This chart from today’s Anchorage Daily News displays some SAT statistics alongside college education choices.

• Alaska students are 49th out of 50 states in college enrollment. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. The paradigm of the educational establishment says college is always the best choice but it seems the marketplace says otherwise. Alaska’s workforce is, statistically, fully employed.
• More Alaskans attend college at home than Outside.
• University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) gets lots of SAT scores in the mail but does not translate that into enrollment.
• Alaska kids score at or above average on the SAT except in writing.
• Family income does influence whether or not a child takes the steps to pursue a college education, i.e. takes the SAT.
• Academics run in families. Kids who have parents with college educations typically pursue one also.

It’s important to remember that this is a very narrow sampling of Alaska’s young adults. UAA has a very large non-traditional student population. Academic and career decisions made at age 18 or 19 are not binding and, often, don’t last a lifetime.

You can download this chart here.

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