Survey: Ohio has a bittersweet relationship with its college students

June 15, 2009

Ohio's best-and-brightest college students may love the Buckeye State, but too many can definitely jilt it for a future elsewhere, according to a new survey from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

According to the survey, 88 percent of native Ohioans attending seven top universities in the state are proud of Ohio, but most-51 percent-plan to leave after graduation. Among non-Ohioan undergraduates, 79 percent believes their future lies outside the state.

The survey, Losing Ohio's Future: Why college graduates flee the Buckeye State and what might be done about (see here), fleshes out the problem of the "brain drain" that has been buffeting Ohio for at least a quarter century. However, the survey results are especially disturbing given the state's recession-battered economy, 10-percent unemployment rate (more than 600,000 people on unemployment rolls), the loss of 235,000 jobs in the last year, and attempts to boost not only the state's education system but its high-technology future with massive Third Frontier spending and a focus on green technologies.

We need our best and brightest to invest their energy and future in Ohio to generate the economic vigor, new technologies, and other economic developments that will spur the progress we need to modernize and prosper. They are the key to the state's ability to pay its bills and meet its future promises.

The challenge of keeping our best and brightest in the state contains the possibility for reasonable and feasible response, starting with Ohio's higher-education system. The

» Continued

Survey: Ohio has a bittersweet relationship with its college students