Small towns across the country are dying off, and college students are partly to blame.
It's called the "rural brain drain," where college-educated young people leave their small towns and head toward urban areas. This is issue is most prevalent in Midwest and Great Plains states, as U.S. Department of Agriculture data illustrates an unprecedented exodus of young people out of rural towns.
As global forces continue to drive traditional manufacturing and other businesses out of small towns, there is a broader shift toward urbanization. In fact, for the first time in U.S. history, more people live in urban areas than nonurban. Adding to this exodus are college-educated people, contributing to what certain analysts have found is a direct correlation between the amount of college-educated people in a county and its unemployment rates.
Maria Kefalas, a sociologist and professor at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, co-authored a book that addresses this very issue. Hollowing Out the Middle outlines the grave situation brewing in Middle America -- paying particularly close attention to one town in rural Iowa -- and, in the end, offers solutions to bring young people back to small towns.
She said this is an issue that has been on the minds of Midwest politicians for years, failing to come up with a viable way of convincing educated people to stay in the region. However, as the years have gone on, those who live in rural areas now find themselves without the resources, tax base or professionals that it takes to sustain a community.
"This is a problem in a close, industrial economy where you need doctors, engineers, computer scientists to keep a regional economy going and sustained," Kefalas said. "What's happening in many rural areas is there are too many people with high school diplomas who are trying to get jobs in a blue collar economy that's really very vulnerable."
Kefalas, and co-author Patrick J. Carr, spent a good deal of time in one community in the Midwest -- Ellis, Iowa. From there, the authors found many of the problems facing not only the town, but also the broader region. Kefalas said the University of Iowa exports more of its graduates than any other Big 10 schools. Furthermore, she said only West Virginia loses more of its college graduates every year.
"As these factories close and as these factory jobs go away, rather than saying we're doomed, it's much better to take a proactive stand and retooling high school graduates for this new system," she said.
One of the solutions, Kefalas said, is to rethink higher education. She suggests putting more resources into other post-high school education that teach skills necessary for a new local economy. For example, instead of encouraging young people to go to medical school, suggest going to school to become a physician's assistant to close the gap of medical professionals in rural areas. Community colleges play a vital role in this process, Kefalas said.
Some community colleges have developed sustainable energy programs that train students for the new green economy -- wind, biofuels and biomass. These programs can be seen all over the country, such as the biotechnology program at Indian Hill Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa. There are also new opportunities with agriculture, as the farming as an industry continues to develop.
"You read about these Ivy-educated kids coming and working on farms -- if I meet one kid from Yale who's been working on an organic farm -- it's kind of surreal," she joked. "But I think people are pretty interested in green technologies and a lot of ways rural America can be ground zero for that."
It still remains difficult to keep young people in small towns considering that rural workers make 80 to 85 percent of what metropolitan workers make, Kefalas said. Instead of small towns evacuating its best and brightest, they should think creatively and let go of a mid-twentieth century view of rural America, she continued.
"We don't want young people to abort their dreams to stay in rural America," she said. Later adding, "What we're saying is you have to stop assuming that the best kids are going to leave and the kids who aren't so good are going to stay and that [the towns] will somehow be OK."
Small towns are facing many more issues outside of the brain drain, like the loss of manufacturing jobs, outdated infrastructure, staggering unemployment, and the inability of small businesses to receive bank loans. But looking at the rural brain drain, Kefalas said it starts with college students.
"Of course kids are going to leave, we don't want them to stop leaving," she said. "But we need to invest in the kids who stay, and make it more tempting for the kids who are thinking of leaving."
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The idea that rural people do not value education is crazy, MOST parents want their children to receive a good education, have opportunities to follow their dreams.
Minnesota continually ranks at the top in terms of educational attainment across the nation. I don't know how you can make a blanket statement like this. I am active across the state in large and small towns and this couldn't be further from the truth. Over half of those in MN hold a passport (source: http://blog.cgpgrey.com/how-many-americans-have-a-passport-the-percentages-state-by-state/)
Why? The current political climate in our state provides no incentives for college students to stay. The governor and house seek to lower state funding to Regents universities by more than $24 million. Those from the far-right continue introducing legislation that would nullify gay marriages and prevent any type of civil union from ever being introduced into our state. Funding for arts, social, and cultural programs continues to be decreased.
Let's face it: the brain drain isn't just happening because students are leaving. It's happening because our legislators chip away each year at funding for educational opportunities. It's happening because libraries continue to receive less funding for programming and collection. It's because education seemingly takes a backseat to tax cuts for multinational corporations.
When I look at the leadership of our state, I see a bleak future. It's disheartening to see legislators that say, "You're not valuable to us--you're a second-class citizen, no marriage for you." It's worse to see our Universities lose even more money, when we cannot even afford to perform routine maintenance on our facilities--and then students have to pay even more to make up the difference.
It's not just the college students causing this--it's the oppressive environment the current government has created, taking away all things important to the younger generations.
BTW - if gas prices remain as high as they are now, fewer rural folks will be able to drive far and will shop, etc. closer to home.
New companies ... solar, bio-med companies are on the lookout for lower cost, people will follow the jobs
College here less costly? In this day of making a dollar hollar maybe marketing is needed; even grade schools; I recently read that many international kids were going to a specific town because that town was smart enough to market themselves; attracting the students ...bringing in cash that provided support of the local kids.
When driving across country some of these places were less than welcoming to a car full of diversity... still if there are jobs the towns will be pulled into being welcoming.