Colleges in Mississippi

Mississippi schools of higher education have been governed by the Mississippi Commission on College Accreditation since its establishment in 1972. The commission approves all Mississippi colleges and universities that award degrees or diplomas of graduation to students from schools in Mississippi.

The commission is directed by the Board of Trustees. The twelve Board members are appointed from each of three Mississippi Supreme Court districts so that there are four members from each District. The term of office is nine years. The Board Office headquarters is located in the Education and Research Center of Mississippi. The Commissioner of Higher Education assists the Board in administrating policies and bylaws. Divisions of the Board Office include academic and student affairs, finance and administration, construction and physical affairs, research and planning.

Colleges in Mississippi offer students many higher education options. The public colleges in Mississippi include eight four-year universities and 15 community and junior colleges. In addition to public Mississippi colleges, there are four private liberal arts colleges and seven private colleges and universities located throughout the state.

All eight four-year universities in Mississippi offer Bachelor's and Master's degree programs in a variety of disciplines. Additionally, six of the universities offer educational specialist degree programs and five have doctoral degree programs. The universities also have excellent research and public service programs. The two-year Mississippi schools offer Associate's degrees in a vast array of disciplines as well as prepare students to transfer to a four-year program of higher education.

Several universities and colleges in Mississippi are recognized as being among the best in the Southern United States and the nation. Among the top 8 are the following:

Alcorn State University

Belhaven University

Delta State University

Jackson State University

Mississippi College

Mississippi Valley State University

Mississippi State University

University of Mississippi

Alcorn State University is a small, private Mississippi school located in Lorman. The school offers Bachelor's, Master's and specialists degrees in programs such as liberal arts and sciences, business, education, psychology

agriculture, applied sciences and more.

Belhaven is a Christian liberal arts university in Jackson. Undergraduate and graduate classes meet once a week which allows people to have flexibility in work and other schedules.

Delta State university in Bolivar has a curriculum that includes the arts, humanities and sciences. This university also grants nine Master's degrees and has one doctoral program.

Jackson State University has programs of study in early childhood and elementary education, management and marketing, entrepreneurship and professional development, sociology and criminal justice, health sciences and planning and engineering.

Mississippi College is the oldest Baptist college in the nation. It offers majors in several areas including computer science and Christian studies.

Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Benna is a historically black college that offers graduate and undergraduate degrees in several programs of study.

Mississippi State University has pre-professional programs in 15 concentrations including veterinary medicine, seminary, nursing, medicine, dental and law.

The University of Mississippi in Oxford is the state's primary university. It offers a range of Bachelor's and Master's degree and carries out important scientific research.

Economy

In 2012, the Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated the gross state product(GSP) of Mississippi to be $98 billion. In 2006, the personal per capita income was listed as $26,908. This is the lowest of all states, but this is offset by the fact that it has the nation's lowest living costs. Admirably, the state's citizens rank consistently as one of the highest per capita in charitable donations. This is perhaps due to repeated natural disasters of flooding that developed a sense of empathy in the residents throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hurricane Katrina later took its toll on the residents.

The state's rank as being among the poorer states is due to its dependence on cotton crops both before and after the Civil War. Much flooding and late development of the Mississippi bottomlands also contributed to earlier economic woes. Despite hardships, the state made large investments in levees and ditching and draining the bottomlands. Slowly but surely they linked the bottomland towns with river cities by railroad.

Industrialization finally came to all areas in the state by the late 20th century. The state slowly invested in infrastructure such as public schools, road and railroads. However agriculture continued to be the state's main economic support. Agriculture employs about 29 percent of the workforce directly or indirectly. It is a 6.3 billion dollar industry. The state has approximately 41,700 farms that cover 11 million acres. The agriculture industry is significant in all of the state's 82 counties.

Some of the agricultural outputs in the state include poultry, lumber, soybeans, corn, rice, catfish, cattle, hogs, hay, cotton, milk, peanuts, wheat, sweet potatoes and grain sorghum.

Many jobs in the state are provided by the government. The trade, transportation and utilities industries also provide jobs for the labor force in Mississippi. Recently, the financial sector has grown in providing employment.

In 1990, the state legislature voted to legalize casino gambling along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River. This included the resort towns of Gulfport, Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, Tunica, Greenville, Vicksburg and Natchez. Additionally, Federally recognized Native Americans have opened casinos on their reservations. These casinos are helping to build revenue for economic support and education.

Despite economic and natural disasters of the past, the state of Mississippi appears to be well on its way to recovery providing a great place to live, work, study and play.