Degree mapping by the numbers

* According to Lumina's "A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education" report, which shows where the nation is on college degree attainment, 65 percent of U.S. jobs will require some form of postsecondary education by 2020.

* In 2011, the most recent year data is available, the percentage of Americans from 25 to 64 with a two- or four-year college degree was 38.7 percent. According to information in a Jan. 22 news release from the Missouri Department of Higher Education, about 46 percent of Missourians ages 25 to 64 hold a postsecondary certificate or college degree.

* In 2010, the attainment rate was 38.3 percent. In 2008, it was 37.9 percent; and in 2009, it was 38.1 percent.

* In Missouri as of 2011, 36.4 percent of the state's 3.15 million working-age adults had earned two- or four-year college degrees.

* If the trend of "degree production" continues, about 44 percent of the state's population, or 1.4 million people, will have college degrees in 2025. To reach the 60 percent goal, Missouri will need to add nearly 486,000 degrees to that total.

* Between 2008 and 2018, Below said, new jobs in Missouri requiring postsecondary education and training will grow by 86,000, while jobs for high school graduates will grow by 34,000. Between these same years, of 898,000 jobs available, 523,000 will require some postsecondary education.

* And 59 percent of all jobs in Missouri -- 1.8 million -- will require some postsecondary training beyond high school by the year 2018.