Just over half — 55 percent — of the class of 2003 enrolled in college the year after high school. Of students attending community and technical colleges that year, 49 percent required remedial math courses.
The state Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board said 68 percent of employers reported difficulty hiring workers with a bachelor's degree. ``Our students are passed over in favor of better-educated kids from other states and countries,'' the report said.
Earl Hale, executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, said that while the state faces a substantial shortfall of skilled tradespeople and health care workers, some programs that train those workers have waiting lists.
Washington's public colleges and universities will need to accommodate about 26,000 new full-time students by 2010 just to maintain current attendance rates. The 2004 Legislature paid for 7,900 new slots at state colleges and universities.
— Associated Press
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