Additional Education Information

Workforce development is a priority of the state's technical colleges and institutes, which work with local business and industry to meet existing and new workforce needs. More than 95% of the state's population lives within a 30-mile radius of one of these institutions.

Relying on extensive employer involvement, the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges developed the Workforce Readiness Curriculum. The association's Workforce Consortium serves more than 2,100 Arkansas businesses each year.

The Arkansas Delta Training and Education Consortium, which consists of four community colleges in eastern Arkansas, will share in a $5.9 million grant that will prepare workers for advanced manufacturing careers as part of President George Bush's High Growth Job Training Initiative. Mid-South Community College in West Memphis opened a world-class automotive/ manufacturing training facility in early 2006.

Arkansas' Workforce Investment Board coordinates one-stop centers throughout the state to ensure consistent training for jobs in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Technical Careers Student Loan Forgiveness Program was designed to attract students to the high-demand fields of advanced manufacturing, computer/information technology, and biomedical/ biotechnology. The program forgives college loans for students who work in Arkansas in these areas after graduation. As of October 2005, loan repayments have totaled approximately $3.2 million to the 1,350 eligible graduates, while the annual payroll of the students receiving loan repayments has totaled $21.7 million. The median salary of those who graduate with a bachelor's degree is $39,000. Currently, more than 1,200 students are "in the pipeline."