Columbia has a higher proportion of college-educated adults than the rest of Missouri, according to a 2006 survey supplement to U.S. Census data from 2000.
Fifty-five percent of Columbia’s adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 28 percent have a graduate or professional degree, according to the census data.
In Missouri as a whole, 24 percent of the population has at least a bachelor’s degree, and 9 percent has a graduate or professional degree.
In addition, Columbia was recently named the 11th smartest U.S. city by Forbes.com based on the number of citizens holding a degree.
Lawrence, Kan., placed higher on the list, coming in at No. 7, and Ames, Iowa, another Midwest campus town, ranked sixth.
A high level of education might be due in part to Columbia’s record of consistently sending more of its high school graduates to two- and four-year colleges than the rest of Missouri. In 2007, Columbia sent about 81 percent of its 1,115 high school graduates to college, whereas the average in Missouri was about 65 percent.
Columbia’s students owe much of this success to the academic atmosphere that dominates the city.
“We have a lot of highly educated people in our community, and parents just expect their students to go on to college,” said Rachel Hermann, a guidance counselor at Rock Bridge High School.
In addition, Hermann said Missouri’s A+ Schools Program is helping more high school graduates continue their education.
The program helps good students by giving financial incentives to attend public community colleges. Hermann said many of these students go on to four-year colleges after receiving an associate degree.
“Postsecondary education is a lot more accessible now,” she said.
However, Douglass High School sends a lower percentage of its graduates to colleges than Columbia’s other high schools. The alternative school teaches life skills to students who have previously dropped out of high school or do not work well in traditional school settings.
“We’re kind of a second-chance school,” said Katherine Corey, guidance counselor at Douglass. “We’re always looking for a way to develop those real-life skills to help students get a job.”