Back to School 2007
As
the end of summer draws near, the return of school bells, teachers,
and textbooks is nearly here. Whether a kindergartener or a college
senior, Missouri students and their parents are shopping for
supplies and clothes for the upcoming school year. MERIC examines
the many statistics associated with back-to-school shopping, school
enrollment, graduation rates, and college costs in Missouri.
Back-to-school shopping
1,681
Number of Clothing Stores in Missouri. Among these there were 429
Family Clothing Stores and 124 Children's and Infants' Clothing
Stores. Other businesses where Missourians go for back to school
shopping by number of establishments in the state are Shoe Stores
(524), Sporting Goods Stores (435), Bookstores (217), Department
Stores (207), and Office Supply and Stationary Stores (181).
$2.45 billion
The amount in sales in Missouri for Clothing and Clothing Accessory
Stores. Sporting Goods, Hobby, Book & Music Stores totaled $1.4
billion in sales of the $68.68 billion in all retail sales.
Enrollment and Graduation
905,449
Total number of students enrolled in public schools in Missouri.
13.8
Student to teacher ratio in Missouri, tying the state with Iowa for
14th lowest ratio in the country and better than the national average
of 15.8.
57,983
Number of high school diplomas awarded to Missouri students. The state
tied for 13th with Montana for the highest averaged freshman
graduation rate1 with 80.4.
Higher Education
217,625
Number of students enrolled in public degree-granting institutions in
the state. The total for all public and private student head count is
337,946.
64,024
Total number of degrees conferred by all Missouri colleges and
universities. Public institutions accounted for 55 percent of the
total, private 45 percent.
$7,303
Average tuition and fees for Missouri resident and non-resident
students to attend a four-year public institution in the state for one
year. The least you could pay to attend a four-year school is $3,916
at Missouri Southern.
1Averaged freshman graduation rate (AFGR) is an estimate of the percentage of an entering freshman class graduating in 4 years.
Sources: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, Missouri Department of Higher Education, National Center for Education Statistics (All figures are the most recently published)
