State lawmakers and leaders of Mississippi’s public colleges and universities are examining ways to increase the number of adults who complete some form of education after high school, land a job and earn a living wage.  The initial conversations, held Wednesday and Thursday during a joint me eting of the state House and Senate committees on universities and colleges, will likely continue during the 2026 legislative session.  Here are four key takeaways from the committee meetings.  Some lawmakers want to tie state funding to public universities based on post-graduation student success  The goal is to get a better value for taxpayers to ensure college students are getting the best benefit of their education and the state is getting a return on investment for them to enter the workforce, said Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford and the Senate committee chair. Higher education systems in some states, such as Texas, Tennessee and Florida, use a performance-based funding model. Their models reward institutions for graduating students, placing them in jobs with median wage earnings,  and helping high need populations succeed.  “Effective funding formulas focus on success within a six-month period of graduation,” Nathan Oakley, senior policy director for ExcelinEd, a national nonprofit think tank, said during a presentation to legislators. The means of success include “whether a student has found employment, enlisted in the military or enrolled at another post-secondary intuition or program.”  Legislators acknowledge that Mississippi’s eight public universities operate under a broken funding formula. The amount of state funding awarded to the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning has decreased from 35% to 26% in the past decade, said LeAnn Robinson, director of the Legislative Budget Office. Those colleges and universities now rely heavily on tuition to generate revenue.  The IHL Board of Trustees is working with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems to review and define metrics of success for each of its public universities, Commissioner Al Rankins said. IHL’s current funding is based on a broad approach that allows universities to receive equal funding regardless of enrollment growth or post-graduation success.   With a recommendation from the center, IHL is considering a few formulas including one based on enrollment and tuition revenue in anticipation of an “enrollment cliff,” a decline in the number of high school students applying to state universities, Rankins said.  Public university enrollment increases overall, but some institutions have seen declines Overall, the state’s public universities saw a 2.7% increase in student enrollment with more than 81,961 students on campuses this fall compared to 79,817 students enrolled in fall 2024, according to an annual report by the IHL board.  But there’s been a general decline in enrollment for the past decade at  Delta State, Mississippi University for Women, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State, Rankins said.  Some of the state’s research institutions, including University of Southern Mississippi and Jackson State, have also seen a slight decline in enrollment in the past 10 years, Rankins said.  Mississippi State University and University of Mississippi, the state’s flagship institutions, are the only two institutions that have seen a growth in enrollment in the past decade. Public universities have to be more intentional with the impending challenges of the enrollment cliff in the next few years, Rankins said.  Legislators are considering offering financial aid to nontraditional students Al Rankins, Jr. is the Commissioner of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. Jennifer Rodgers, executive director of the state’s financial aid office, suggested a way to meet the state’s education attainment goals, boost its financial aid system and create job opportunities for working-age adults: creating the Mississippi Workforce Promise Program.  Boyd and other lawmakers plan to propose legislation in January for an adult workforce grant program, which would be piloted at a few community colleges. The program would involve providing grants for nontraditional students, including those older than 24 and not enrolled in school full time, who are pursuing a degree or credential. The state does not offer financial aid to nontraditional students, but they make up a large portion of the state’s post-secondary population, Rodgers said.  In recent years, the state has also redefined its educational attainment and workforce goals to get more college graduates to stay in Mississippi and contribute to its labor force and economy. In 2022, the state Chamber of Commerce and AccelerateMS, the workforce development office, launched Ascent to 55%, an initiative to get more than half of Mississippi’s workforce college educated by 2030, on par with the national rate. As of January, 48.7% of Mississippians ages 25 to 64 have a degree, credential or industry certification beyond high school. The state has also outlined a number of job shortages in high-wage, high-demand fields such as nursing and health care technicians, IT and cyber security specialists, welders, electricians and plumbers and manufacturing trades, according to AccelerateMS. By 2035, the state would need to produce an additional 19,000 skilled workers for these in-demand fields.  The Mississippi Workforce Promise Program could be a chance to tap into a group of students to educate or offer job opportunities or training, Boyd said. Other states such as Tennessee and Michigan have used similar grant programs to expand their workforce and lower barriers for students to get their degrees, training or credentials, Rodgers said.  Adults who complete the program are students who would likely stay in the state, especially if they’ve established families or work in Mississippi, Rodgers said.  Empowering Mississippians with financial literacy resources can help the state’s future economy  Combined with Mississippi’s low median income of $56,820, the average federal student loan debt — $37,552 — creates the worst debt-to-income burden in the nation, said Apryll Washington, deputy director of the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid.  More resources and support are needed to educate college students on financial literacy, said Jean Massey, executive director of Ascent to 55%.  Mississippi requires high school students to complete a college and career readiness course with a financial literacy component to graduate. The course covers topics including budgeting, saving, credit and completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. But after high school, many students are then saddled with debt such as rent, credit card and loan payments, Massey said. Requiring first-year students to take a money management course at universities and colleges could be a strategy to improve graduates’ financial future and help Mississippi’s economy.  “I think we have to empower our students,” Massey said. “We can partner with local credit unions, banks and nonprofits to provide expertise and mentorship. We can give students access to digital tools for how to track, monitor and spend their money.”   State institutions including the University of Mississippi, Jackson State, University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi College offer financial literary courses or coaching for students. But state higher education leaders must examine ways to ensure students are set up for success, Massey said.  “We need to give choices and opportunities for students to move forward,” Massey said.  ...read more read less