College Enrollment Economic Geography
Where high school graduates go to college has little to do with brain drain. Furthermore, most regions and states have no business worrying about brain drain in the first place. Are jobs going unfilled because too many people are leaving?
Colleges and universities are now much more than sites of local
workforce development. These institutions of higher learning are a
growing part of the regional economy. In Pittsburgh's case, they are the
centerpiece of the revitalization of Southwestern PA. Hence the interest
in enrollment trends:
The source of undergraduate freshman at regional institutions has changed in recent years (see Figure 2). In 1986, 1,911 matriculating undergraduate freshmen came from the U.S. outside of Pennsylvania, with another 170 international freshmen. By 2008, non-Pennsylvania residents made up 28 percent of the 14,927 undergraduate freshmen at colleges and universities in the Pittsburgh region. Over onequarter— 26.7 percent, or 3,927 students—were from other parts of the U.S., with an additional 244 undergraduate freshmen from overseas.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Burgh Diaspora - Economic Development From Geographic Mobility
Author: Jim Russell