Half of university grads flee Michigan

[wolverine]

http://detnews.com/article/20090403/METRO/...s+flee+Michigan

Add me to the pool. Despite that my lease in Ann Arbor ends in September, I hope to be gone in 4 weeks after I complete my Masters. The MSU numbers don't surprise me. There are so many MSU bars in Chicago. I've been to the one in Lincoln Park which is a prominent building decked out in green and white.

As far as U of M, it's really difficult for me to tell from personal experience how many people stick around. I'd say just about all my friends have moved elsewhere. The ones that remained are in temporary jobs or are preparing to leave soon. Then again, most of everyone in my program was out of state, so I never expected them to stick around.

It's going to take a lot to keep people...building better cities, attracting better companies. I think if I ever come back, I'd settle somewhere around Grand Rapids where I definitely see a bright future.

[GRDadof3]

Yeah, when I graduated from Western about 15 years ago, most of the people I knew were looking at moving somewhere else. It's hard for cities in Michigan to compete against cooler and faster growing ones like Chicago, Atlanta, Portland and Denver, etc..

There's also this interesting interactive feature that shows where Michigan residents are leaving, by county, and to where they were going:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090402/SPECIAL01/90401002

[mgman]

Yeah, when I graduated from Western about 15 years ago, most of the people I knew were looking at moving somewhere else. It's hard for cities in Michigan to compete against cooler and faster growing ones like Chicago, Atlanta, Portland and Denver, etc..

There's also this interesting interactive feature that shows where Michigan residents are leaving, by county, and to where they were going:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090402/SPECIAL01/90401002

[Carolindiana]

I neither live in nor am I from Michigan, rather I'm an Indiana resident relocated from a childhood in SC and college years in NC, but I find this topic very interesting.

Here in Indiana, an oft-discussed news topic is the "Brain Drain." Most recently, an Indianapolis news report questioned whether the admissions offices at Purdue & IU hold in-state students to HIGHER standards than out-of-state. Traditionally, it's supposed to be the other way around, or at least equal standards. The report suggested that the schools are favoring non-residents because they pay nearly triple in tuition, while in-state residents are accompanied by less state support than in years past. In other words, the schools make more money off non-residents.

How accurate that report's suggestions were are certainly debatable, but the increasing number of non-resident admissions does explain some of the brain drain. I'm sure Michigan schools, especially UM and MSU, can relate.

To some extent, I feel the state should hold state-supported schools accountable for the number of grads who remain in the state for, say, five years. Incentives for the graduates, such as tax abatements or refunding tuition, may be necessary. Now, when companies get word that new graduates have extra motivation to stay in the state, they may be more willing to locate there.

mgman, it sounds like Michigan has a lot of what southerners call the good-ol-boy network. It's REALLY hard to advance in that environment. Clearly, Michigan needs some new companies to come in if the state hopes to keep its talent. Otherwise, even incentives wouldn't work.

[mfellows]

It isn't unusual for graduates to seek jobs outside the state, and by all means -- before you start a family -- that's when you want to see what it's like elsewhere, in my book. A lot of people do end up moving back after starting families, however, to be close to their extended families or just to get out of an even greater rat-race somewhere else.

There's more attention being given, also, to basic questions of quality of life as an inducement to live or start a business in Michigan, and that gives a lot of us more hope. Lots of digital enterprises dotting the landscape all over the peninsulas, if you look -- people who can work anywhere they please, yet locate in the Keweenaw, or Traverse or on a lake in Jackson County.

There's an interesting event this week in Lansing that focuses on the role of place in community and economic development. The MSU Land Policy Institute's annual summit is Tuesday and Wednesday at the Lansing Center, and will focus on the things that will let communities prosper in the "new economy," which seems to boil down to "placemaking" and quality of life. The LPI's new report, which is posted at their site, basically argues that, since money increasingly follows the so-called knowledge workers -- who tend to be more interested in quality of life than chasing a buck -- the trick is to attract them with cultural and natural attractions and decent communities, and the rest will sort of follow. Here's the event press release, with lots of links.

Another interesting thing is that the LPI is encouraging dialog online about its report and threads coming out of the meeting. Links for Facebook, Twitter, etc. are included on the press release.

[ericnmu]

Every friend I graduated with in 2007 has left the state. Most to Wisconsin and Chicago. 3 of my best friends, after applying all over the region, took tech jobs in Madison with me.

[torgo]

Believe it or not, the rate at which college grads leave the Michigan - about half - is about average. The rate at which we attract college grads from all those other states is the real problem, as the state is way behind in attracting out-of-state talent.

[LA Dave]

Believe it or not, the rate at which college grads leave the Michigan - about half - is about average. The rate at which we attract college grads from all those other states is the real problem, as the state is way behind in attracting out-of-state talent.