I am an IT type by profession, so I will outline this blog in a typical engineering way. ie, I will identify the Problem/Issue, and then a possible solution with many sub areas. It is how my brain works, I am a dreamer as they say, I dream of things, and wonder "why can't it be done"? Sometimes these thoughts stick in my head, and I can't sleep, or concentrate on other things til I get them out of my head. This blog is because I see a really neat solution to a growing problem in America, and in other countries. The lack of educated / dedicated students to support science, technology and to a large extent education itself. Bill Gates asked on Linkedin.com the following question "How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?” I thought about this question, and some other issues, and thought I would write a blog about it.
The Problem
I have a step son who is a Junior in High School, and we recently went on a spring break trip to various colleges and universities that he had an interest in. I was in for a shock, basically, you had to have at least a 3.6 GPA and a high SAT (or ACT) score even to be admitted, and only then would they determine how much you would pay based on your parents earnings. While I may understand the rationale behind this, it fundamentally is flawed in order to get more students into higher education. What is even harder to swallow is the cost of the education, and the drive to make the parents fund the higher price of education. Many of the institutions were in the $40,000 per year range, and I found that to be way out of my price range. What was even more difficult is that above average students (ie, a 3.0 GPA) didn’t have a chance to get into these schools unless the parents funded the student fully.
I should digress here a bit to tell you that I had a 3.0 GPA in high school, and graduated from a State College with a low GPA, though I am not proud of that GPA, I am proud that I did graduate. Having said this, even with a low GPA, I think I have done ok for myself (made Captain in the USAF, and have been a Director of IT for a large telecom company and a large payroll company). So, bottom line, you don’t need to have near a 4.0 to do well in business, in fact I would share that while the GPA is one measure, it is not the only measure, the fact that someone graduated should amount for equally impressive accomplishment. The true worth of the future employee is not the GPA, but how they apply themselves in the workplace, and how they work with others, and to me, while they teach about team work, and work ethics, the individual is the one that has to apply them in the real world.
So here I sit,
1. With Bill Gates asking how we can get more students into the technology and science fields.
2. Parents facing a financial strain to get their children into college.
3. Colleges being very expensive (unless you have an extremely high GPA and SAT).
A Possible Solution
It dawned on me that there are many students with above a 2.0 GPA that want to attend college, but they can’t because of the funding, and that their GPA wasn’t in the stratosphere in order to receive grants or scholarships. Then I thought, “What if, there was a funding mechanism that would give out the “student loan” to pay for the full ride of the college”. Well that does exist, but it also puts the student in debt when they graduate, and it also causes undo pressure. Here is where the 2nd “ah ha” came in.
Bill Gates asked about “how can we”, that got me to thinking about the various companies out there (technology and science) that spend thousands of dollars on recruiting of new hires, and new grads. They also have to spend even more money on training, and on company projects. It also dawned on me and nearly all of these companies fund additional education (ie, dollars to employees to get more education) and this education can be in the form of completing a bachelor’s degree. Now the proposed idea: What if: A student with a 2.0 GPA or higher wanted to go into a certain technology or science field, and what if: a company really wanted more new employees in said technology or science? Why couldn’t the company agree to partially fund the student during their college education? Ie. Going to a VP of HR for said company, “What is one of your top problems”, answer “hiring qualified talent”. 2nd question, how do you get new grads into your company? Answer, we recruit, and hope for the best. 3rd question, “Do you have an intern program, so when interns graduate, they already have a feel for your company and the projects you have going on? Answer “yes, when we can find the talented students in the right areas of study”. This is where my “hmmmmmm” light went on.
Lets say, that there is a “grant/scholarship/loan” program, that funds up to 10,000 students a year to attend college. The program will fund the student, but the student agrees to study in a certain broad area of study (ie technology or science), and the student agrees at that when they graduate they will go to work for a company that will sponsor them for 4 years. During the 4 years, the student must maintain a 2.0 or higher GPA, and they agree to intern for ½ normal salary of a starting graduate at said company during the summer periods? The company then agrees that for the first four years of employment to pay ½ of the cost of the education (per year) of that new employee? They already have programs to pay for education, so this is not really anything new, except they are paying for classes that have already been finished. But, they get a new hire that they already know, that already hits the ground running, and is more efficient for them. Additionally, they didn’t have to pay recruiting costs.
I thought, that would be a great program, but would take a lot of resources to get up and running and to administer. It would have to be an ongoing program, and would need to be funded from the beginning. Over time (after the first 4 years when the first graduates enter the work force) the funds would be paid back ( ½ by the employer, and ½ by the graduate) (hence my thought of education paying forward). I then again thought about what Bill Gates had said, and I thought, there must be more foundations out there that could put up the funding for this program. 1. It is an initial outlay of funds, but over time, it is perpetual (with administration and constant planning). That 2. It helps out many of the foundational companies (ie, science, medicine, technology). And 3. It helps a Large population of students attend colleges that they could not afford. And 4. It gives them a job when they graduate which is always hard to break into the companies.
I then did a simple search of some large foundations; this is by no means a complete list, as many foundations could support this program. These foundations include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Bill Gates, Microsoft), The Ford Foundation (Ford), The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (HP Founders), Lilly Endowment Inc. (Lilly), The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (HP Founders), The Ellison Medical Foundation (Larry Ellison), The Walton Family Foundation (Walton Children), Google Grants (Larry Page and Sergey Brin), The Dell Foundation (Michael Dell), and The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (Warren and Susan Buffett).
All of these foundations talk about technology, science, or education (to mention just a few of the great projects they accomplish). I wonder, would they fund such a program (yes with a lot more work to fully define, and plan for administration)?
This is where my next obstacle came in. I tried to reach out to these foundations to say, “Hey, I think I have a neat idea, yes it will take some work, but I think it would be a wonderful program for you to help fund and further define. To my surprise, I don’t know anyone at these programs, and when I email them, some either say, “we are sorry, but we are too busy to answer your email”, or some just don’t reply. I wish I knew a way to get this idea in front of them, for them to say “hmmmm”, maybe this is something we should look into. Hence my idea for this blog.
I guess deep down inside me, if I could pick my Nirvana job, would be to lead this program for these foundations. I have the drive to do this, and someone once told me, the best job you can have is to do something fun, and rewarding. I can think of no greater reward than to help children get educated.
By the way, notice I said education earlier. We have an extreme shortage of educators in America (and other countries). Wouldn’t it be nice if we could take a small percentage tax on the above program, and fund for students that want to be teachers as well? Ie, instead of companies paying back, we fully fund the students if they agree to say 8 years of teaching?
Anyway, as I mentioned, this is my first blog. I will add to it, but I had to get this out of my brain. If you should read this, and do know someone in one of those foundations, I would be really be appreciative if you could forward this blog. Maybe they will want to contact me for more details, or better yet, want to bring me in for full discussions (as I said, there are many things to consider, plan and administer that I haven’t fully thought of, or have the capabilities for at this time.).
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