It is an embarrassing spot for a city that prides itself on its many fine institutions of higher learning: sandwiched between the Rust-Belt wrecks of Akron and Toledo, 92d on a list of 100 communities ranked by the percentage of residents with college degrees.
But that’s where Philadelphia languishes, according to a new report to be released today by two of the city’s leading think tanks. Yet, there is hope for Philadelphia’s abysmally educated workforce, the study said, and from a strange source: the city’s all-too-abundant supply of college dropouts.
Only 14 percent of Philadelphians 25 or older have a college degree, but the study identified 80,000 more of prime working age with some college experience. If those dropouts can be persuaded to reenroll, they “promise the quickest and most effective way to increase our stock of college-educated workers,” said the report, produced by the nonprofit Pennsylvania Economy League and the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board.
The report’s novel findings and recommendations might mark the first concerted effort in the nation to upgrade a workforce by cultivating former dropouts, or “comebackers.” As a group, comebackers tend to be employed in lower-income jobs with little chance of advancing without more education, the report said. Many dropped out for nonacademic reasons, such as financial problems, child-care challenges, or healthcare troubles, the study found. “These are people who might have 20 or 40 years left in their careers, who have already demonstrated some interest in college,” said David B. Thornburgh, executive director of the Pennsylvania Economy League. “You can make a substantial difference in someone’s life and in the economic vitality of the city if you can get that 25-year-old back to school.” Getting working adults, many with family obligations, to reenroll is no easy feat, which Thornburgh and others who worked on the report concede.