Local college students reflect on brain drain

Local News

Related Photos

P-R Photo/Rachel Moore

Discussion

PLEASE NOTE: There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

ALSO NOTE: Derisive name-calling of an individual or group will result in the entire comment being deleted. This includes the terms "stupid" and "idiot" and similar references.

Welcome to our new online comments feature. Before you can join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address.

Once you do, your comments will post after they have been reviewed by a moderator.

We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified, at the newspaper’s discretion, for a number of reasons. Here are some typical practices to avoid in trying to get your comment printed:

There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

Don’t state as a fact something that is unsubstantiated or that our editors wouldn't know to be true.

Don’t presume someone’s guilt in a case when it hasn't been established by a court.

Don’t assail or impugn an identifiable individual or group. If you have that kind of criticism, sign your name and submit it as a Letter to the Editor. (There is some leeway on this in connection with public officials, but it is not unconditional.)

Don’t use profanity. This includes the term “tea bagger.”

Don’t be incendiary or tasteless. Those qualities are subjective, of course, and our editors will be the arbiters.

Do not identify yourself in the main content area of the article content form. Only by enforcing this rule can the moderators prevent unscrupulous commenters from falsely identifying themselves as someone they are not.

Don't type in all caps. It is considered the Internet equivalent of shouting.

In sports articles, do not criticize officiating.

Remember, moderators are not allowed to edit any article comments. If an article comment fails any of the above criteria, the entire comment will be deleted.

We monitor comments Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Approval of comments outside these times may be delayed.

comments powered by Disqus

September 4, 2007

Students talk about attracting young adults to New York

By RYAN HUTCHINS The Press Republican Tue Sep 04, 2007, 12:30 AM EDT

PLATTSBURGH -- Stopping the "brain drain" from hindering New York's economic development is a long-standing concern for many state leaders.

The loss of college-educated adults to other states -- or the absence of a gain, according to a recent study -- has officials searching for solutions.

If upstate New York were its own state, it would have had the nation's lowest "in-migration" rate from 1995 through 2000, according to a recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

But the brain drain, whether it exists or not, very much remains a concern for state leaders. Even as the report was being released, Gov. Eliot Spitzer was in Syracuse talking about a housing project that would help "make ourselves a place where our kids want to stay, and our kids' kids want to stay."

His wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, will host a summit to discuss the brain drain issue on Sept. 18 at SUNY Cortland.

It's not hard for Plattsburgh State graduate student Steve Beaty, who plans a teaching career, to see why many of his colleagues go to other states to launch their teaching careers.

He said graduates with education degrees from New York schools are significantly more likely to find a job in the South than in this state.

"I don't think I want to do that," said the 24-year-old Glens Falls man. "But I can understand people that need money right away."

One of Beaty's friends has been looking for an elementary-education job for two years. He said he has seen that as a problem for friends in other fields as well.

"I know a lot of people my age that have had to move back home because they couldn't find substantial work," Beaty said.

Within the whole statewide issue, is that of the North Country. Some students said they simply don't see the region as a place to work.

"I feel like Plattsburgh is a place to retire ... or a place for you to learn or grow," said Takima Howze, 24, a Plattsburgh State sociology major.

Howze, who is from the Bronx, said that for many people from New York City and Long Island, upstate doesn't provide the fast-paced environment to which they are accustomed.

When she graduates in December, she said, Howze would like to work in a group home for girls. But it won't be in New York.

She may retire or own a vacation home in the North County, though.

Pat McCoy, 42, a self-described "army brat," has lived in Plattsburgh since he was 10 years old. Most recently, he worked as a laborer at Georgia-Pacific, but now he's a first-year nursing student at Clinton Community College.

He said he thinks the economy in New York has played a role in the brain drain.

"There's really not a lot of opportunity here," he said.

He has no intention of leaving the state or even Plattsburgh, though; his wife is a teacher at Plattsburgh High School.

"I think this will be our home until we retire," he said.

However, Adina Cosa, a Plattsburgh State sophomore from St. Albans, Vt., plans on leaving.

"I'm moving to the West Coast because it's cooler," said the 18-year-old.

It's also because her parents are moving there, too. They will be starting a business in Oregon.

Cosa does see New York as a possible home in the future, though.

"Someday I might come back here," she said. "Who knows where I might settle?"

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.