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I'm curious as to why you think it's such a major issue. The question asked is not "which states are the best at attracting people to their universities", the q

I'm curious as to why you think it's such a major issue. The question asked is not "which states are the best at attracting people to their universities", the question asked is "which states are worst at keeping a student as a longer-term resident once the student has completed university in that state". And to answer that question you must report the results the way they have been reported here. The issue really seems to be that you want a different question asked. In which case feel free to do the research to answer your question!

rayiner 10y ago
The content of the article makes it seem like the question being answered is "what states are the best at attracting college graduates?" The actual answered question, which you state above, is an artifact of the limitations of their data. Say that NY and NJ are equally attractive destinations for college graduates. But say NJ has no colleges, and everyone goes to school in NY. Under the methodology of the article, NY will show a huge out-migration and NJ will show a huge in-migration, even though they are identical in terms of keeping long-time residents who graduate college. I think that phenomenon explains exactly what you're seeing with pairs of neighboring states. Is anyone going to seriously argue that NJ or CT are more attractive destinations for college graduates than NY or MA?
tedunangst 10y ago
In order to determine which state is "worse" at keeping students, you need to know how many students were predisposed to leave. State A has 10k students, 5k from out of state, and 3k leave. State B has 10k students, 1k from out of state, and 2k leave. Which state is better at keeping students?
eveningcoffee 10y ago
I think that the only question this study answers is "is a follow-up study with a better methodology required" and the answer is yes. This study points out an interesting sociological dynamics we do not understand fully (pardon my ignorance here as I did no verify if there actually exists a better study) and looking further into it would only create more confusion and possible false assumptions.

rayiner 10y ago

The content of the article makes it seem like the question being answered is "what states are the best at attracting college graduates?" The actual answered question, which you state above, is an artifact of the limitations of their data. Say that NY and NJ are equally attractive destinations for college graduates. But say NJ has no colleges, and everyone goes to school in NY. Under the methodology of the article, NY will show a huge out-migration and NJ will show a huge in-migration, even though they are identical in terms of keeping long-time residents who graduate college. I think that phenomenon explains exactly what you're seeing with pairs of neighboring states. Is anyone going to seriously argue that NJ or CT are more attractive destinations for college graduates than NY or MA?

tedunangst 10y ago

In order to determine which state is "worse" at keeping students, you need to know how many students were predisposed to leave. State A has 10k students, 5k from out of state, and 3k leave. State B has 10k students, 1k from out of state, and 2k leave. Which state is better at keeping students?

eveningcoffee 10y ago

I think that the only question this study answers is "is a follow-up study with a better methodology required" and the answer is yes. This study points out an interesting sociological dynamics we do not understand fully (pardon my ignorance here as I did no verify if there actually exists a better study) and looking further into it would only create more confusion and possible false assumptions.