Get an Education and Double Your Salary (Part 2 of a 2-Part Series)
COMMUNITY INDICATORS
| Community Indicators are intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue about your community, they can help identify potential issues, opportunities and problems facing your community. This communication piece is also intended to increase use and understanding of readily accessible demographic data on the web. |
Issue 7, January, 2004
By: Andy Lewis
Center for Community Economic Development
University of Wisconsin Extension
610 Langdon Street, Room 334
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 265-8136, cced@uwex.edu , http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/
| Over a 30 year career, an individual with a bachelor's degree earns about one million more in income then the high school drop out. |
While the first part of this series focused primarily on high school graduates, this issue deals with students pursuing higher education. The evidence for out-migration in Wisconsin seems to be clearer for college graduates. In a study conducted by the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute (see chart 1), Wisconsin ranked below the national average and ranked only ahead of the State of Indiana in the percentage of students that continue to reside in the state following graduation.
Chart 1
Graduate Migration from Indiana's Postsecondary Institutions , Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, March 1999 See: |
In terms of post-secondary education, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that an individual with a bachelor's degree can expect to earn $2.1 million over the course of a career. That earning power increases to $2.5 million for individuals with a master's degree, which is nearly, double the expected earnings of an average high school graduate.
According to the 2000 Census, about a quarter (22.4%) of Wisconsin residents over the age of 25 have a bachelors degree or higher. Wisconsin ranks 30th on this measure and is not doing a particularly good job of retaining or attracting persons with this level of education. The national average for this indicator is 24.4% (See Chart 2).
Chart 2
% of Persons 25 Years and Over with Bachelor's Degree or Higher, 2000
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Factfinder Thematic Map, TM-P042, http://factfinder.census.gov
In addition, there are some significant differences between Counties within Wisconsin (See Chart 3). The percentage of adults (age 25 or older) that have a bachelor's degree or higher ranges from 41% in Dane County to 9.97% in Juneau and Adams County.
Chart 3
% of Persons 25 Years and Over with Bachelor's Degree or Higher, 2000
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Factfinder Thematic Map, TM-P042, http://factfinder.census.gov
| For a Copy of an Excel Worksheet showing educational attainment levels for all Wisconsin Counties and Municipalities, see: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/documents/edattain_all_WI_places.xls |
At the municipal level, the range of educational attainment is even wider (See chart 4). The percentage of persons 25 years and over with a bachelor degree or higher ranges from a high of 82% in the Village of Shorewood Hills (Dane County) to a low of 1% in the Village of Oakdale (Monroe County).
Chart 4
| To create a bar chart illustrating the municipalities you are interested in, download the Excel Worksheet: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/documents/edattain_all_WI_places.xls Next, click on the red tab, click on the button titled "Wisconsin Place", and select the places you are interested in. |
The equation for brain drain is complicated by the fact that it is impacted by graduates leaving the state but also by the inflow of college graduates. Postsecondary Education attempted to measure the second half of this equation by estimating the growth of bachelor's degrees among those 25 and older over a ten year period of time in each state. They then subtracted the cumulative number of bachelor's degrees given out by all degree-granting institutions during this same time. Unlike the state of Minnesota, Wisconsin experienced a net out-migration of bachelor's degrees from the state (-50,772). Net migration of college grads out of the state over this ten-year period of time was equal to about 1.5% of the population in Wisconsin that was 25 years of age or older (1999). Wisconsin ranks 30th in net migration.
Chart 5
NET MIGRATION OF COLLEGE GRADUATES |
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|
Estimated Number of Persons Over 25 Years Old with a Bachelor's Degree |
Estimated Change in Bachelor's Degree Stock |
Number of Bachelor's Degrees Produced |
Estimated Net Brain Drain or Net Gain |
|
|
1989 |
1999 |
1989-1999 |
1989-1999 |
1989-1999 |
Minnesota |
577,920 |
953,920 |
376,000 |
234,945 |
141,055 |
Illinois |
1,490,293 |
1,939,200 |
448,907 |
513,754 |
-64,847 |
Iowa |
305,406 |
393,638 |
88,232 |
173,537 |
-85,305 |
North Dakota |
89,244 |
89,200 |
-44 |
45,022 |
-46,066 |
South Dakota |
79,672 |
110,848 |
31,176 |
40,669 |
-9,493 |
Wisconsin |
571,725 |
790,600 |
218,875 |
269,647 |
-50,772 |
Sources: Postsecondary Education Opportunity http://www.postsecondary.org/archives/Reports/Spreadsheets/StockFlow.htm (Data on all states) |
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The encouraging news is that this same organization reports progress in the state of Wisconsin. When analyzing recently released data (not yet published on the web site) for the year 2001, the net loss of college graduates in Wisconsin had dropped to -32,702 for the period of 1989-2001 (an improvement of +18,070 in just two years!).
According to the American College Testing (ACT tm) Program, the completion rate for four-year colleges (completion of bachelor's degree in 5 years or less) was only 51% in 2002. The completion rate for two-year colleges (completion of associate's degree in 3 years or less) was only 36% in 2001 (2002 data was not yet available). The completion rate for two-year colleges and four-year colleges were both at an all time low in 2001. The national dropout rates for all types of institutions between the freshman and sophomore year was 33% in 2003. What happens to these students?
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For more information on ACT's study of completion rates, See: http://www.act.org/news/releases/2002/update.html & |
D.P.I.'s survey indicates that 48% of the 60,575 seniors in 2002 planned on attending a University, while 21.6% seniors indicated an interest in attending a vocational/technical school. If all of those students followed through on their intentions, and mirrored the dropout rates for the nation, there would be about 9,682 Wisconsin adults leaving a University setting between their freshman and sophmore years with an additional 4,357 leaving vocational/technical schools.
Several Questions come to mind that might trigger community strategies:
- Do community colleges attempt to recruit students who may have dropped out of a four-year college?
- Does anyone provide career and financial counseling to individuals who drop out of school?
- When high paying jobs requiring college graduates are created or pursued, what strategies could be employed to attract former residents of the community that have moved away? Is there anyone more familiar with the community then former residents?
- What economic development strategies could be applied to create more jobs in Wisconsin that require more education (and higher incomes)? Brain drain is driven by both the supply side (generating graduates) and demand side (high paying jobs).
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• What training will be required for persons who have lost their manufacturing job and now find themselves in a market where a similar wage requires higher educational attainment?
For a further analysis of the link between education and Wisconsin's Labor Force, see: Mortarboards, Paychecks, and Crystal Balls , T. Ludeman, D. Barroilhet, B. Gehrke, s. Gleason, E. Grosso, and J. Sachse, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, October 2002, http://www.wisconsin.edu/summit/papers/Mortarboards.pdf
