A newly implemented nationwide tracking system will now be able to follow Lake Havasu High School graduates — and others seniors statewide — as they enroll in colleges or vocational programs throughout the United States.

“That’s a huge piece of information that has been lacking because there was no system that was in place to be able to track it,” said Michael Kearns, Mohave Community College president. “This is very important to know what really happens to our students. It’s a major step to gain more information to what our students are doing.”

MCC has four branches across the county, including one in Lake Havasu City.

The Arizona Board of Regents, which governs public colleges and universities, and the Arizona Department of Education, which oversees the K-12 public school systems, finalized an agreement Jan. 28 with the National Student Clearinghouse. The nonprofit organization tracks student degrees and enrollment verification, according to its Web site.

This is the first time the state would be able to track enrollment into two-year, four-year public and private institutions and vocational programs across the U.S., according to an ABOR press release. Previously, the state boards just tracked enrollment within Arizona’s higher education institutions.

The new data will include transfer information, degree choices and match high school graduation rates against enrollment among 3,000 colleges and universities nationwide, the press release states.

Data is now available for years 2003-2008; and future data will be available one year after graduations.

The ABOR states that the cost of the new information runs about $41,000 annually.

“This new student record system will allow Arizona to begin to identify trends in student outcomes — which students delay enrollment in college, drop out and/or later return, transfer, or do not pursue a degree at all,” ABOR President Ernest Calderon said in an e-mail. “We will also learn what degrees students are earning and how long it is taking to earn them, and where we are losing the students who attend college outside of Arizona and for what reasons. Ultimately, we will be able to use this as one tool to help increase baccalaureate degree production by gaining critical insight into college preparedness efforts and identifying areas where we need to focus on encouraging more students to enroll in post-secondary education or ways to encourage more students to complete their degrees.”

Lake Havasu Unified School District Superintendent Gail Malay said the district does “some tracking, but it is never enough.”

“I have not had access to good data,” Malay said. “We study data a lot.”

But Malay added that K-12 system “isn’t totally responsible” for ensuring students’ further education after high school.

“It is a partnership between the student, their own work ethic, and the parents and the school district,” Malay said. “Some of our best and brightest go out of state (to school), this will be good to get feedback.”

Kearns said he was unsure of when the college would be able to review the data, but said MCC would use it to ensure the college is “more closely aligned with where our students are matriculating to … linking it all together is the key right now. This is really exciting to be able to do this.”

You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com