28 Percent of Missouri Legislators Don't Have College Degrees

Meanwhile, in Jefferson City...

​Aha! Finally, everything coming out of Jefferson City makes sense!

Missouri legislators are less educated than their counterparts in other states, according to an analysis out today in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Just 69 percent of Missouri representatives and senators have a four-year college degree and/or  have completed some post-graduate studies, according to the publication. But here's the real shocker: Some thirteen percent never attended college, while eighteen percent attended university but never graduated.

Those numbers are below the national average for state lawmakers, of which 75 percent can be expected to have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree or higher. Just nine percent of lawmakers nationwide don't have college degrees, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Missouri legislators who did attend college favored in-state schools more so than legislators elsewhere. Some 65 percent of Missouri lawmakers who went to university did so in the Show-Me State, with University of Missouri - Columbia the most popular by a long shot. Nationally, just 55 percent of lawmakers attended college in their home state.

Note: Number crunchers will notice that the percentage of Missouri lawmakers with and without college degrees in the Chronicle study adds up to just 97 percent. How can that be? Here's the explanation, per the Chronicle: "This information is primarily self-reported by the legislators, either through biographical surveys or in campaign literature. In some cases, ambiguity or a lack of information meant that degrees earned and colleges attended, if any, could not be determined."

H/T @tlwriter