If you have any questions about why 25% of young people are leaving Michigan, you need to look no farther than Bridge Michigan’s analysis of personal income in this state. Since 1981, personal income has been negative in every year but four. Since the Engler administration, the declines have been staggering. What was once a “worker’s paradise” is now an economic nightmare that will not reverse itself easily.
The issue is not fully related to who occupies the Governor’s chair, but it is more closely related to who controls the Michigan Legislature. The impact of policies that are hostile to workers and allegedly employer-friendly is clear when considering personal income. Michigan, which had once notched the 8th highest personal income in the country now sits at 39th and is poised to drop even farther.
With the combined average graduation rate of 24.5% and an average annual income of $35,000 among Michigan’s community college graduates, it’s not hard to figure out why community college enrollment in this state is declining. People can’t afford to attend community colleges, not in terms of how much it costs to attend, but how much a person loses in terms of lifetime earnings by attending one.
Who’s responsible for this?
Philosophically, community colleges rely too much on employers to determine their programs. These institutions need to consider more than just what employers need and want. When they subtract prospective students from the conversation, they eliminate the students’ reason to enroll in the institution’s programs in the first place. By relegating students to “third-party beneficiary” status, community colleges guarantee that their enrollment will drop. Not surprisingly, that’s exactly what has happened.
Personal income highlights the difficulty of reversing Michigan’s population shift
Reversing this is going to take more than the offer of “free community college” to Michigan’s residents. No matter how free attendance is, if a community college degree can’t produce sufficient income to pay the bills, it’s not really much of a solution to either Michigan’s workforce or Michigan’s employers.
It is time for Michigan’s community colleges to fully enfranchise students in the development of academic programs. The income potential of an academic program must be a determining factor in the decision to offer or not offer the program. No matter what the demand is from employers, if the income potential of the degree (or certificate) is insufficient, it is unconscionable to entice students to enroll in the program. Period.
The short-term damage of doing less includes putting the school at risk of borrower’s defense claims, if the student acquired student loans to pay for the degree. It also guarantees a high turnover rate for students who have completed the program, and a high dropout rate for students who determine that their academic plan doesn’t make economic sense for them.
The long-term damage of doing less is on full display in the data on Michigan’s personal income history over the last five decades.
Students pay for their education. Start paying attention to what they need to make the deal work.
Photo Credit: All Things Michigan, via Flickr
