Florida’s postsecondary attainment rate, which is already growing at a faster pace than the nation as a whole, recently got an extra boost.
Last week, Lumina Foundation released an update to its Stronger Nation report with new certificate attainment data, revealing that the percentage of Floridians with a high-quality workforce credential has increased from 7% to 8%. While the certificate attainment rate for the U.S. remained at 5.2% — resulting in an overall national postsecondary attainment rate of 47.6% including certificates and college degrees — Florida’s overall postsecondary attainment rate now stands at 49.3%, outpacing the national average by 1.7%
FCAN has updated its county and LCAN degree attainment profiles to reflect these exciting changes to Florida’s talent development efforts. Click below to see how your county is doing!
Updated with 2017 Census data, Florida College Access Network (FCAN) has released new degree attainment profiles for all 67 counties in the state.
The degree attainment profiles serve as a convenient way for education stakeholders and community members to gain a clearer sense of where they stand in efforts to meet tomorrow’s workforce needs with increased postsecondary opportunities. The profiles feature five-year degree attainment trends, average wages by education/training level, and a summary of state and county-level attainment data. FCAN has also developed degree attainment profiles for each of the state’s local college access networks (LCANs), which now represent 78% of Florida’s population. These regional networks are working collaboratively to increase college and career readiness, access, and attainment for students in their communities.
Since 2014, statewide degree attainment has improved from 45.9% to 49.3%, putting Florida degree attainment 1.7 percentage points ahead of the national attainment. At the county level, 56 of Florida’s 67 counties maintained or improved their degree attainment. Of the 11 remaining counties, seven were found to have maintained or improved their degree attainment in the last two years. Minority degree attainment statewide also improved over the last year, specifically among Asian (58.1% → 60.7%), Black (28.8% → 29.7%), and Hispanic (34.2% → 35.1%) residents.
Degree attainment is commonly linked to increased income and employment outcomes for workers, as well as a number of positive health-related behaviors and civic participation. In the past year, statewide median annual wage has increased across all levels of training from $32,634 to $33,418. Additionally, degree attainment is used by communities and regions to attract industries with high-wage jobs that require education and training beyond high school.
You can view the state, county, and LCAN profiles through these links:
State and County Degree Attainment Profiles
Local College Access Networks (LCANs)
Alachua County Education Compact
A.S.P.I.R.E. (serves Gadsden, Lee, and Wakulla counties) Region I Counties
Central Florida College Access Network (serves Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties) Region I Counties
Earn Up (serves Duval, St. Johns, Nassau, Baker, Putnam, and Clay counties) Region I Counties
FutureMakers Coalition (serves Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Glades, and Hendry counties) Region I Counties
LEAP Tampa Bay College Access Network (serves Hillsborough and Pinellas counties) Region I Counties