The General Assembly hereby finds and determines the following:
(1) That the skills required for jobs and careers in the future demand increasing knowledge and training, and the continued development of the Arkansas economy depends on more of our citizens obtaining postsecondary education;
(2) That the course choices made as early as the ninth grade can affect the education options available to a student after high school;
(3) That many eighth graders and their parents or guardians are unfamiliar with the courses required to enter our state's colleges and universities or the options offered by our state's technical colleges and are unaware of the financial requirements or financial assistance available for postsecondary opportunities; and
(4) That one (1) of the education goals of Arkansas and the nation is to increase the number of young people entering postsecondary education.