Biden calls for boost in graduates

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Vice President Joe Biden wants to boost college graduation rates and help the nation meet President Obama’s goal to have the best-educated workforce and the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020, the U.S. Department of Education reports.

Speaking at the first annual Building a Grad Nation Summit, Biden called on each Governor to host a state college completion summit.

He also released a new college completion tool kit for states and Governors to draw ideas from, and announced a new grant competition focused on helping institutions of higher education boost completion rates.

“Right now we’ve got an education system that works like a funnel when we need it to work like a pipeline,” said Vice President Biden.

To meet the President’s 2020 goal, the United States will have to increase the number of college graduates by 50 per cent – turning out at least 8 million additional graduates by the end of the decade.

“America once led the world in the number of college graduates it produces, and now we’ve fallen to ninth,” said U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.

“While our educational advancement stalled, other countries have passed us by. We need to educate our way to a better economy, and governors must help lead the way.”

The Administration is making a number of financial resources available to help governors execute their plans to boost college completion rates.