Keeping Ohio’s newest assets in Ohio is a challenge
Keeping Ohio’s newest assets in Ohio is a challenge
There is no arguing that a necessary component for any state’s economic health is a strong system of higher education.
Bottom line: an uneducated populace makes less money and pays less in taxes.
But what good does it do a state to provide college educations for its residents if the graduates, sheepskins in hand, promptly leave for other pastures?
That this has been happening in Ohio comes as no surprise. And while we don’t have the figures to prove it, anecdotal evidence would suggest that it happens in the Mahoning Valley at a higher rate than most other places. Just think of how many friends and neighbors sent their sons and daughters off to college, and now the only time they see the kids or grandkids is when they go to another state for a visit.
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a nonprofit organization in Dayton that conducts research, issues publications, and directs action projects in education reform, has issued a report on Ohio’s brain drain, showing just how bad it is.
The most startling statistic: the state faces losing more graduates than it will keep from Ohio’s top seven universities. Although 88 percent of native Ohioans at those universities say they are proud of the state, fully 77 percent suspect their future lies outside Ohio and 51 percent plan to leave after graduation. The percentages for nonOhioans who will leave is even higher.
The state Department of Development and the University System of Ohio have been addressing the problem of brain drain, but the Fordham study provides insight into additional possible lines of attack.
A questionnaire was completed by 811 sophomores, juniors, and seniors at Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, Miami University, Oberlin College, Ohio State University, Ohio University and the University of Dayton.
Not surprisingly nearly nine out of 10 said the prospect of finding a good job was important in deciding where to live after graduation, and only about one in 10 rated Ohio as offering excellent prospects for a job search. Among all students surveyed, 58 percent plan to leave the state (51 percent of native Ohioans and 79 percent of nonOhioans).
What they want
The jobs they are seeking offer good opportunities for promotion and pay increases. Those factors were more important than providing the opportunity for public service or new challenges.
Obviously, the best way to keep graduates in the state is by making them aware of the jobs that are available in Ohio that meet their expectations, and to attract industries that create those jobs. The first isn’t that difficult, to the extent that the jobs existing. Creating jobs is a much more daunting task — and one that every state is attempting to do.
But the survey also uncovered some other avenues available to the state. One is for the universities to be more active in establishing co-op programs with companies or organizations in the state. These programs provide students with internships that give them a paycheck that helps pay for college, college credit for their experience and a tie to an Ohio company that could result in a job after graduation.
Most students also said they would be more inclined to stay in the state if they were offered income tax credits, student loan write-offs and cash grants for down payments on home purchases.
To some, those might sound like bribes. And on one level it is offensive to hear that these students, who have been provided with excellent educations at taxpayer-supported universities, are demanding more privileges or they’ll take their new educations somewhere else. But the alternative to providing such incentives is to watch some of Ohio’s brightest pack up and go.