AN INVESTMENT IN OPPORTUNITY ALUMNI SHARE HOW THEIR CWU DEGREES HAVE SERVED THEIR LIVES, CAREERS, AND COMMUNITIES BY TARA ROBERTS
During Kevin Moran’s senior year studying marketing management at CWU he became the first-ever College of Business ambassador. Moran represented the college at events, welcomed visitors, and reached out to new students. It wasn’t his first time being an ambassador. The moment he decided to go to college, he became a representative for higher education in his community. Moran (’15), who is from Kennewick, was the first in his family to go directly to a four-year college. When he called home during his first year at Central, his family peppered him with questions about his experience. When he visited, neighborhood kids asked what he was learning, what he liked about college, and whether he met other Spanish- speaking students. Today, Moran is back in Kennewick, working as a community development officer for STCU, a Spokane- based credit union with branches in the Tri-Cities. He continues to be an ambassador for higher education; he’s raised over $200,000 for scholarships through the Hispanic Academic Achievers Program, which he’s volunteered for since his senior year at Central. He wants to ensure students with backgrounds like his have the opportunity to change their lives by earning a degree. “I really appreciate the fact that higher education allowed for me to have a better understanding of having a goal, accomplishing it, and also recognizing the value in it, because it can be incredibly impactful to others, as long as you're willing to put that effort in,” Moran said. “It just made me who I am.”
Higher education needs ambassadors like Moran more than ever. College-going rates across the nation have dropped rapidly since the pandemic upended the world from 2020-22. According to a September 2022 Newsweek article, “enrollment is down nearly 10% over the past two years, a loss of 1.4 million students pursuing degrees.” The article cites a survey by the nonprofit ECMC Group that found the percentage of teens considering a four-year degree plummeted from 71% in May 2020 to 51% in 2022. Washington has followed the same pattern. A March 2023 analysis from the Washington Student Achievement Council reports only 51% of the state’s classes of 2020 and 2021 enrolled in a two- or four-year institution within a year of high school graduation—a 9% drop from 2019. The decline was sharpest among Hispanic and Latino students, with a 14% drop from 2019 to 2021. The concern with these drops isn’t about filling classrooms. It’s about the future—for individuals, their families, and their communities. INVESTING FOR A LIFETIME For individuals, one of the biggest selling points for earning a degree is simple: college pays off. The median income for full-time workers with bachelor’s degrees between the ages of 22 and 27 in 2021 was $52,000, according to a Newsweek analysis. For the same age group with high school diplomas only, the median income was $30,000. Research also shows people with bachelor’s degrees hold a higher percentage of well-paying jobs, are less likely to become unemployed, and have higher lifetime earnings.
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