Vol. 38, No. 18

6-19-2007
By: Adam King

Ohio State graduates buck state trends

Ohio State’s graduation rates and the quality of students receiving degrees have soared over the past five years. And a majority of the university’s grads — about 75 percent — are staying in Ohio to start their careers, bucking a state trend that shows Ohio isn't keeping pace with other states in maintaining its young professional base.

According to U.S. Census Bureau’s numbers, people 25 and older with bachelor’s degrees dropped 3 percent in Ohio over the past eight years (4.8 percent between 2000 and 2005 in Columbus), and in that same span the state’s college graduation rate dropped to 39th nationally from 22nd.

Jack Cooley, assistant provost in the Office of Academic Affairs, says the university’s first priority is educating its students and giving them access to the best careers, no matter where those are located.

But as a citizen of Ohio, he wants to see his state flourish, and a new initiative sponsored by the city of Columbus and the Columbus Chamber of Commerce and other programs at the university gives him a greater sense of hope.

The Attract and Retain Talent Initiative will contact alumni ages 25-34 from area colleges and universities and make them aware of career opportunities in the city. The Ohio State Alumni Association plans to take part. Also, a public relations campaign this fall will tout Columbus’ advantages and attractiveness to young professionals.

“Currently, at least one-third of our region’s graduates leave our community,” said Ty Marsh, president and CEO of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. “At the same time, a number of area businesses have positions that go unfilled because they cannot find a candidate with the right experience. Our goal is to reduce both of these situations by strengthening the relationship between local businesses and local colleges and universities.”

Cooley said Ohio State is contributing to the initiative’s third goal to work with area businesses to create 3,000 new high-end internships. If the undergraduate students in them prove a success, they would be hired to full-time jobs with those companies.

Indianapolis, suffering its own brain drain, recently completed a similar effort and kept 1,500 graduates in the city, Cooley said.

“This initiative comes at a time when Ohio State’s undergraduates are better prepared and more talented, so the internships will need to be substantial to keep our students,” Cooley said.

Playing ‘Doc Hollywood’
   
The old medical adage that a doctor ends up practicing where he or she does his residency still holds true for the most part. But a program at the Medical Center that pairs students with rural community practitioners is giving some graduates pause about leaving the state.

Because Franklin County can’t handle all OSU’s med students, about half of each entering class is sent to Bucyrus, Dover and other outlying areas for their primary-care training. It’s quite the culture shock when some patients pull up in a horse and buggy, as the Amish do in Sugar Creek.

 “A medical education without a community-based component is missing something important,” said Terry Bahn, program director in the College of Medicine. “One student who happened to be the son of an OSU clinical faculty member had an expectation of what constituted medicine. But after some time at Sugar Creek and Dover, he is now trying to reconcile his upbringing and the really meaningful experiences he had there. In his case, it’s an understatement that he now has another option to following in his dad’s footsteps.”

About 45 percent of each entering class is from out of state, so convincing those students to stay for their residency training is half the battle. The primary-care rotations help provide a unique and positive experience as do the minimum 12 hours of community service each first-year med student is required to do. Many do more and 20 students were recently honored for more than 100 hours of service.

“Our students really love the community service piece and that’s another way that helps them feel, ‘Gee, Columbus is my home,’ and they look more closely at staying in Ohio,” said Linda Stone, associate dean in the College of Medicine, who noted 22 out of 65 recent graduates from out of state were doing their residency in Ohio.

Speaking from experience

Junior political science major Doug Nagy is one of those students who expects to remain in Ohio when he graduates. But he’s not content to return to his Cleveland-area roots alone.

With fellow junior Alex Harnocz, Nagy in December 2005 started Come Home to Cleveland, a sanctioned student organization that attempts to show graduates how living in Cleveland can be hip as well as hot for their careers.

He’s targeting the 25 percent of Cleveland-area OSU grads who don’t return home but stay in Ohio as well as the 25 percent who leave the state.
   
“Students have this romanticized version of L.A. or New York, and that Ohio is not as exciting,” said Nagy, who grew up in Mentor, 25 miles northeast of Cleveland. “But really we have the same amenities, just on a smaller level, and it’s much more affordable.”

Come Home to Cleveland operates on a shoestring budget and hosts a Web site (ComeHometoCleveland.com) that informs graduates about the city’s housing, jobs, nightlife and beaches while listing 101 things to do in Cleveland.

“It’s not something that’s been done before — students from Ohio trying to keep students from Ohio in Ohio,” Nagy said. “People who talk about brain drain, they’re not living with the people they’re trying to reach. We’re bringing it directly to the student body.”

In Columbus, he’d like to see mandatory bus tours of the city for incoming freshmen.

“Ohio State’s orientation does a wonderful job of getting students oriented onto campus. But one aspect that’s missing is orienting them to Columbus,” Nagy said.

Building for the 21st century
   
Young graduates by nature want to move, according to a 2003 report from OSU’s Center for Human Resource Research.

The report found that Ohio sits 29th among the 50 states in net migration rate (the combination of graduates leaving and entering Ohio). Ohio isn’t losing more graduates than other states. The problem is Ohio isn’t attracting a larger portion of the pool that leaves other states, resulting in a net loss of graduates.
   
The state is attempting to turn this around by increasing its bioscience and technology industries while raising the standards of its secondary schools’ core curriculum so more students will have the skills to be successful in college, thereby increasing the graduate pool.

“Ohio is in the process of converting from a labor-intensive industry state into an orientation on financial service institutions, health care, technology and high-end service industries,” Cooley said. “But that’s not something a state so heavily dependent on industry can do overnight. Ohio is being very proactive, and government and business both deserve immense credit.

“And Ohio State is holding up its end as well. Our first-year retention rate is up over 90 percent, and in terms of graduation and time to degree, we’re improving pretty dramatically.”

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