The regional economy of northeast Indiana is on the cusp of significant growth.

However, a recent study highlights a stark contrast between the burgeoning demand for skilled labor and current educational attainment levels.

The research findings also point to a way forward with a goal to improve post-secondary attainment that meets the talent needs of regional employers.

We'll learn more about the advancing post-secondary education and training study on this week's prime time.

And good evening, I'm Bruce Haines.

And with us today are Dr. Liz Bushnell, executive director with Questa Education Foundation.

Patrick Bushey, vice president of Strategic Initiatives at the Don Wood Foundation.

And Dr. Carl Inhofe, president of Indiana Tech.

We welcome you all to the program.

And we welcome you to if you would like to call in with a question or comment as we go along.

Feel free to do so.

A number will appear on the screen right there at the bottom.

And I'd like to further the introductions.

You don't have to tell us who you are, but we'd like to learn more about who these folks are.

Tell us a little bit about the organizations with which you're associated.

And Liz, let's start with you.

Great.

I'm with Cuesta Education Foundation.

We're a nonprofit organization that's been serving Northeast Indiana for over 85 years.

Our mission is to help students in our region pursue post-secondary education, graduate with as little debt as possible, and to become part of our workforce when they graduate.

So we provide forgivable loans for students.

It helps them to afford educational expenses as they pursue pro secondary credentials.

And those loans are mostly forgiven when they come back to northeast Indiana to live and work and be part of our workforce and part of our community.

Well.

Dr. Carl North Carl, for the next 26 minutes, is president of Indiana Tech Serial.

Lots of things happening on campus.

Yeah.

Thanks, Bruce.

Yes, I'm Carl and I'm president at Indiana Tech.

And most know our beautiful campus here in Fort Wayne, where we serve about 1500 traditional students.

We also do early start programs for high school students in the region and have about 300 students in those programs.

But what most people don't know is we also serve a rather large adult working population, have at least 3500 students in various programs, from certificates to associate to bachelors, masters degree.

And also we have a Ph.D. program.

So it's an exciting time.

And I was just very proud to be part of this study and to be able to contribute from a higher ed perspective.

Right.

Another major player, the Don Would Foundation.

Patrick, you're your employer and work with strategic initiatives.

Tell us about that.

Absolutely.

So we are a private foundation.

We're relatively young.

We started in 2018 and our namesake is Don Wood, who was the founder of 8020, which is the large corporation on Highway 30 between Fort Wayne and Columbia City.

We primarily fund in northeast Indiana, and our focus we do leadership entrepreneurship in advanced manufacturing.

And generally we invest to support a diverse workforce through exposure, training, education, research and strategic convening.

And it makes sense that you're all together on this, said the next question, though, looking back now as the study is, here is what was the purpose of the research that we're talking about today that brought all of you together in the first place?

And who'd like that one first?

Liz, go ahead.

Yeah, I can start.

And it was really a collaboration from the start.

So we had some conversations probably a year and a half, two years ago, the Dan Wood Foundation hosted with Questa community conversation around how do we help adult learners access resources to go on to post-secondary.

And as we started having that conversation, we really we talked about the financial barriers, but we also talked about all the other challenges that students face and then expanded it to not just be talking about adult learners, but students of any age and realized it's such a big and complex challenge and opportunity and we really needed to think about what we could do regionally.

But before we got into action planning, we wanted to make sure we were thorough in the research to understand what are the talent needs in Northeast Indiana, what are the real challenges that students face, and then where are our opportunities to make a difference as a region?

Yeah.

What was that like for you?

Patrick When the phone rings and it's Liz on the other end and I have an idea, I'm sure it didn't go quite like that, but.

No, and, and part of the reason is and one thing that I didn't mention in the intro to the foundation is the scholarships is really important to the Dan Wood Foundation.

It was really important to Don Wood as an individual.

And when we pulled that together, we the group met for about three and a half hours and we thought, you know what, we'll just kind of figure out a way to put more dollars into scholarships.

We ended up talking about 15 minutes about that and ended up talking about 3 hours about all the rest of the stuff, the non financial and financial barriers and how we can all work together.

And so that was really thrilling and that's why we took this step back.

And that's what led to starting the study to try to understand it more holistically.

And as an extension of this work, certainly the academic community is a significant player.

And Carl, for you, what what has been say part of what lives on your whiteboard that you thought?

I wonder if this research can shed some light on that?

Well, I was grateful that both Liz and Patrick asked me to be part of this because, you know, our students have been they've benefited from both of these organizations.

So it was nice to be part of the study.

But our students and as I mentioned earlier, we serve students, both traditional students, but also students at every stage of life and career.

And yes, financial issues are certainly issues that our students face.

You know, obviously, paying for education is is a hurdle.

But there are so many other things that students face is as well.

Our adult students are mostly busy working people.

And so in order to have a program that of an educational program that fits into their busy lives and careers, it's it's it's a challenge to do so.

Many go online.

But obviously with online you have to make those programs engaging for them so that they have the opportunity to work with somebody when they need it in the evenings and on on the weekends.

Typically, yeah, but there are so many other barriers as as well mental health is a is a it's a big challenge across the board, not just with traditional students, but also with adult students.

We at Indiana Tech subscribe to a service called Timely Care, where any one of our students can pick up the phone and speak with a counselor within minutes.

I mean, it's an amazing opportunity, and then that counselor can then connect them to therapeutic help later if they if they need it is as well.

We've actually found that 64% of the people who use this service are people over the age of 24.

So it's our are working adults that that you know, as they are going back to school have challenges of dealing with time management and and being anxious about it.

Sure.

And, you know, we just want to be able to support them as they go through their educational journey.

Yeah.

And these are the things that are the herding cats of data points, I suppose within the process of conducting the study, let's time permitting, we'll go back to that methodology.

But when things got it sorted out, what did the research reveal for you?

One of the first things that we looked at were understanding talent needs in northeast Indiana and then comparing those needs to who were graduating.

And if we're prepared to meet the demands of employers in our region that will help our region thrive.

And we specifically were looking at high demand, high wage jobs, which we defined as jobs that required some type of education after high school that were poised for growth, that were at low risk of automation, and that we paid a living wage threshold.

So we looked at what are the jobs that we have in northeast Indiana today and what do we expect in the next five years.

We then compare that to who are we graduating and do we have the talent that we need in the region?

What we saw very starkly is that we have a really big gap between who we need for regional employers, for their growth and success and who we're graduating.

And so that was one of the really kind of critical key points to also inspire people to be part of this work is to take a look at what we expect for job growth and how do we help more students achieve the credentials they need to fill those jobs.

The job growth itself, we were projecting 5600 additional high demand, high wage jobs in northeast Indiana.

And so that demand is really increasing.

But at the same time, we're seeing fewer students enroll and do a few fewer students complete postsecondary education.

I was seeing, too, that you have 46% or so of working age residents, the highest level of educations, a high school diploma, and yet only 34% have completed some form of postsecondary education.

The good news or the happy news is there is high demand.

But being able to find the the requisite supply to meet that demand is is the crux of the whole thing.

And then getting the connections between the two apparently figured out where the data points that stuck out to you and you things you weren't expecting to see when the numbers came back.

I think it wasn't necessarily surprising.

We knew that we had challenges in order to to meet talent, to meet the demands on the region.

I think just that that's the the gap was what was so surprising when we looked at just bachelor's degree needs.

Of those 5600 jobs, 61% of those will require a bachelor's degree five years from now when we project out based on the increasing demand for students with those credentials, we could face a gap of 6500 to 8000 people short of meeting just bachelor's degree demand.

And we have demand at every level certificates, associates, bachelor's degrees, graduate and professional degrees.

So it's really it's across all areas.

It's a challenge, but it's also an opportunity because there's so many paths students could take.

There's so many options for different types of postsecondary credentials that are all going to be really valuable.

And it's a matter of us figuring out what are the obstacles preventing students from pursuing the education they need, and then how do we help remove some of those barriers?

And Patrick, that's that's a great segway to this notion of a fresh start.

You know, that came out of the finding Speak to this this idea of the it's time to start talking about an either or proposition between trades and a collegiate setting.

Yeah, absolutely.

And one of the things I might add, Bruce, about the data is, is of the 5600 from a regional perspective, 37% of those positions will be in health care.

And in the next five years, the region will need somewhere in the neighborhood of about 300 degreed engineers.

And so there are significant need of that with regard to that.

But with regard to the debate between college and the trades, it's not a binary choice.

It's absolutely not a binary choice.

And the reason that it's important is because if you think about it, the research indicates that they establishing clear links between academic accomplishment and career outcomes is going to be crucially important.

Right.

So what are those transferable skills that students are going to gain by going through some sort of an education experience that they're going to be able to articulate and use to value to get into those high demand, high wage jobs?

The other thing is, is and Carl will want to speak to this is this idea about cultivating a variety of different pathways because the single pathway, meaning if you have an individual and you say, okay, the pathway is you're either going to go to college or you're going to do the trades.

The study said, no, what you need to do is there's multiple pathways, multiple on ramps, and there's multiple off off ramps, right?

So as students start, then there's that opportunity to do that.

And I think that's really important.

And the last thing that I point out is, is education takes place in a variety of different situations at a variety of different times.

So oftentimes you'll hear us say you have a high school student and they go in and talk to a counselor and they say, Hey, the best experience I had was my career and technical education experience at the high school.

I come from a family farm.

I love working with my hands.

I can take apart my tractor, my three wheeler or my motorcycle with my eyes closed.

What am I going to do?

Unfortunately, years ago, the conversation was you need to pursue a college degree.

The communication should be, Hey, that's really good that you're really passionate about trades.

But what you need to understand is, is the pace of change is unrelenting.

And so you're going to have to commit to lifelong learning and you're going to have to commit, hey, you may want to start your own business at some point in time, and you may want to go to a college or a training center and learn how to use QuickBooks, or you learn how to hire people and learn how to manage people or different things like that.

So commit to lifelong learning and commit to the fact that your path not necessarily now, but the next year or two, might require some additional postsecondary training.

Yeah, what we're seeing is, you know, well, first of all, there's nothing worse than a young person who has been encouraged to go to college, but yet they're not ready for it or it's not something that they that they want to do.

And, you know, we're very careful in our enrollment process to make sure that, you know, those students are coming from a traditional background, coming to school, you know, are ready for it.

We are actually seeing our greatest growth in students who have gone to work either in a trade or they just come come and work right out of high school, and then they come alongside us when when they need it.

We partner with so many companies that that come to us and say, you know, we have employees who came in and entry level jobs, but they've worked their way to a point where they're ready for a managerial or supervisory role, where they can advance in their organization, and they're encouraging their employees through to tuition remission type programs to pursue an education.

And so, you know, one of our largest growing programs at the moment is an online bachelor's degree in engineering for students who are in the workplace, in engineering jobs, as as technicians who came through the trades to get that job.

But they're working on a bachelor's degree so that they can advance in their in their company.

Well.

And when you wonder, is the opportunity presents itself about the aspirations of students today and what they would like to do to apply at themselves and find those pathways.

This next few minutes should be very encouraging for you to take a look.

My name is David Briggs, and my dream career is to be a dentist.

My name is Alexandra Cabrera, and my dream career is to be an L.A. County Superior Court judge.

My name is Kash Gaines, and I want to be a financial investor.

My name is Darlene Markey, and my dream career is to be a orthodontist.

My name is Emily Rodriguez, and I want to be a pediatric nurse.

My name is Linc Morehead, and my future career is construction Management.

I chose it because I think it's a smart degree.

It's building traction, and there's a lot of opportunity in it.

I'm personally interested in agriculture and healing the land in terms of use the most this year are just human connections and getting internships out of empire.

But last year we use tools like 3D printing, CAD design, soil testing in the school system.

There hasn't been as much of a push to go the trades out.

I haven't been given as many materials or as people to talk to about trades.

That's always kind of been in the back of my mind about if I go into electricians.

I feel like in the past there's really been a negative on blue collar jobs is kind of see it as just a way out, a way to turn out, put an effort, some people say, and I feel like a lot of people see blue collar jobs as the last sign of jobs that may include a degree.

I feel like that perspective is starting to slightly shift, especially in the Fort Wayne area.

I know a lot of kids I know are going into the trades, feel like trade jobs are sort of just pushed together.

They're not placed individually as different careers.

It's like college and you talk about all the different degrees and different colleges enlisting and then trades is always just some people.

I know they're enlisting to be able to afford school and then other ones are going they started in this to be able to go into a trade knowing that they wouldn't be able to pay for associates or bachelors or more.

I do feel like some people probably don't have as much support as I do.

I also have older brothers who already went through high school, so they're always there for me when it comes to school, which, you know, I'm very fortunate to have people who care about my education.

And I believe some people do go out and blab because there's people here who really do care about your education.

I feel like and Blab has given me many opportunities, not only with connections, but they also help me like guide to where I wanted to go.

They've been able to show me like how to use my people skills when it came to picking a career, how to manage my time.

They've been really helpful in my decision.

Obviously the teachers have knowledge and entrepreneurship in different aspects, but if I get to talk to people that are actually doing this for a living more, then I get to actually get a better mindset on what they're doing and kind of pick their brain.

How did you get to where you're at?

How did you become successful?

I think mentors are very important for kids to find out what they want to do with their future.

If it weren't for Mr. Cockrell and my counselor, Mr. Nobles, I probably would still be lost.

I wouldn't know that I had a passion for law and I'd be trying to find what I'm going to do still, or pursuing a pathway that I wouldn't end up being happy doing.

I would like to see more like one on one connections with students and community members instead of it being kind of a wall between us.

We're still getting communication, but it's not as direct as I would like it to be.

I think people exiting high school definitely need guidance.

Someone that who will be able to help them get to where they want or if they end up changing their plans, they'll help them navigate through that.

For adult learners, you don't have those same resources that you do in high school, like coming straight out of it, like, Oh, like I have a guidance counselor, I have like the teachers or professors.

As an adult learner, you kind of have to figure it out yourself.

Plus you have the stress of like, Oh, if you have kids a job like bills to pay, it's kind of hard to to even figure out where to go.

You see those like ads on TV, like, oh, our mind school or like, But I feel like it's just it's not that simple.

I think that's a deficit in our community of where can these people go.

One thing all learners need real world experience.

So getting to talk to those people, getting to watch them do their job, getting to learn more about what actually happens instead of learning from a textbook to know that there's hundreds of community members watching this video right now makes me excited for the future.

Will bring to Indiana students knowing with that that there's hundreds of people in a room just trying to help me, help my brothers, help my sisters really strive for a better education that is really fulfilling for me.

Students who are clearly looking forward to those post-secondary connections and are already taking big steps to get there.

And speaking of big, the principal finding of this whole study, this is like the main idea of the book, which is.

That students of all ages need better access to an individualized guidance for them to really navigate their options and figure out of all those educational pathways.

What's the right fit for them, and then how do they connect to the resources that will really help them to not only enroll but complete and be successful in achieving those postsecondary credentials?

So we identified a lot of opportunities as a starting point in this research that we can talk about as a region and work on together to implement solutions that would make a difference for students.

And those next steps.

That's a big deal that adds more momentum to it all.

And Patrick of the study now soon becomes a coalition.

It does.

It does.

And I think the key thing, if there's one thing that the viewers will take away, is the center of this is the learner, the learners at the center of all this.

And the what will end up happening is a kind of going out is is we will form three working groups and those working groups will be 10 to 12 people along with an advisory council.

And that advisory council is made up of regional and statewide stakeholders.

And the idea behind it is, is we wanted the working groups to really focus on regional opportunities that we can work on as a region.

And if we identify certain systems level changes, those will float up to that advisory council because those have regional and statewide leaders that can start addressing that.

And then the idea behind the coalition is, is there region wide stakeholders, hundreds and hundreds of people across the region that have indicated they want to be involved in this.

They'll provide feedback and make sure that we keep our work grounded.

Well, it it's so much you have to almost step back from the big table where all the documents and the graphs and the people are sitting.

What is that big takeaway or that big surprise at this point?

I'm sure there will be more pending, but I'll start with let me start with you.

I think the the big takeaway for for all of us really is that we know learning is hard.

Right.

And it should be it should be rigorous.

Students have to have to learn, but the rest of it doesn't need to be hard.

Right.

And we there are so many things we can do to connect students with resources that are available to them.

You know, one one thing that stuck with me is that less than 15% of employees take advantage of tuition remission programs.

So, you know, why is that?

Why what can we do to help them use these opportunities that that are there for them?

Yeah.

Patrick, let me ask you, what's your takeaway at this hour?

Yeah, the big takeaway is, is 82%, the study found, hold a positive view of education.

And yet 84% of Hoosiers believe post-secondary education is too expensive and 60% question the value of post-secondary education.

So to Karl's point, people are excited about education, but there's barriers that are present to keep them from getting to the starting line and eventually to the finish line.

Opportunity these and constraints.

Certainly with Questa with all here, the ideas keep the talent in Northeast Indiana.

What is your take away or key observation for for where you are with with this work?

I'm thrilled about the opportunities in front of us.

So we talk about as we look at this research and we see the challenges and some of the obstacles that are in front of students.

On the flip side, we have had such a response to this research and this opportunity to work together as a region to to impact the lives of so many students and help them achieve those career goals.

I'm confident we'll be able to implement some really exciting things in the months to come.

And if you would like to do some follow up yourself, let us share where you can see this study online.

And this is one of the great places done with Foundation dot org.

Absolutely.

Another activity is at Indiana Tech, where you can see where some of these programs that Karl and others have been speaking about are made available.

And then a question foundation dot org.

Just look for the Coalition for Advancing post-secondary Education and training.

There's a neat little logo right there.

There's the long form, the executive version participation is the is the big point Everybody can play.

Absolutely.

Okay.

And with that we thank you very much for the chance to share, allowing us to take some time to bring you into the playground of how we can indeed improve the academic circumstances for all in northeast Indiana and beyond.

Patrick Pushing with the Dunwoody Foundation.

Dr.

Girl Enough with Indiana Tech.

Liz Bushnell.

Dr. Liz Bushnell with Questa Education Foundation.

I'm Bruce Haines with Prime Time.

Take care.

We'll see you again next week.

Goodnight.