Where Will We Find The Next Generation of Engineers?

A new study that examines the number of engineering graduates coming out of our nation’s engineering schools reveals a mixed picture of how prepared each state is for meeting the need for high-tech workers in the coming years.

Greg Schuckman, assistant vice president of university relations and director of federal relations and research advancement at the University of Central Florida, authored the study after revisiting data that he had analyzed in 1998 while working for the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) in Washington, DC. “Over the past 20 years, the number of students earning bachelors degrees in engineering has declined by almost 3 percent nationally,” says Schuckman. “While that statistic may not seem significant by itself, the decline comes at a time when the number of students receiving bachelors degrees overall in the United States has increased by more than 50 percent.”

John Brooks Slaughter, president and CEO
of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME) noted last year that, “Huge changes have occurred in our economy largely as a result of globalization and technological innovation. Manufacturing has declined while the information age requires more professional and high-tech skills from employees. It is estimated that more than a half million engineers will be needed over the next decade to replace those who retire and that at least that many new engineers will be needed to fill the demand that will exist at the end of that period. We find ourselves importing talent and exporting jobs, not just because it is less expensive to have the work performed by lower-wage skilled workers in developing countries but also because we do not produce enough native-born, well-qualified scientists and engineers in our nation’s colleges and universities.”

Overall, 20 states increased their production of engineering graduates while 30 states and the District of Columbia decreased between 1986 and 2006.

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Davidson College Eliminates Student Loans

Davidson College, a small liberal arts college in North Carolina, says it will begin meeting students' financial aid needs without student loans so that they may graduate debt free.

As aresult, all Davidson students will have their demonstrated financial need funded entirely through grants and student employment.

"We believe this new policy is the necessary response to the financial situation facing many applicants and their families, and know it isconsistent with a core value of the college," says Davidson College President Robert Vagt. "A Davidson education should be affordable for all students, regardless of means. This is an historic change for Davidson and for liberal arts institutions across the nation. With the support ofthe entire college family, from students to faculty, trustees to alumni, we are confident this bold reform will prove to make a significant difference for our students, our institution, and our community."

Taking effect in August, this new policy makes Davidson the first national liberal arts college in the country to adopt such a policy, eliminating student debt for its graduates. Davidson will meet 100 percentof the demonstrated need with grants and student employment, but families retain the option to take out education loans as part of personal financing, the college says.

Davidson says will maintain its commitment to practicing need-blind admissions, meaning the family's ability to pay for a Davidson education has no bearing on whether or not the student is admitted.

Currently, 33 percent of Davidson students receive need-based financial aid, with packages inclusive of grant, loan and campus employment. Nationally, college students borrow $53.8 billion per year to cover college costs.

Davidson says it is the first national liberal arts college, and only one of a couple of institutions of higher education, in the country to completely eliminate loans from student aid packages.

"The trustees are deeply committed to this new policy that will befunded entirely with new monies," says John McCartney, chair of Davidson's board of trustees. In order to allow students to graduate from Davidson debt-free, the trustees say they have identified and committed the immediate funding needed to initiate this policy, while formally committing to a strategy for raising new monies to endow the program, says McCartney.

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