Grads, make Howard home

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May 8, 2009

Anonymous The Kokomo Tribune Fri May 08, 2009, 12:20 AM EDT

Indiana University Kokomo will graduate 525 students Tuesday. The School of Nursing will graduate the most; 139 will receive bachelor’s degrees and 45 will earn a master’s.

Wednesday, 23 students of Kokomo’s Purdue University College of Technology will graduate. And Thursday, Ivy Tech Community College graduates will receive diplomas in ceremonies here in Kokomo.

It is our wish that the hard work and sacrifice of these graduates will be rewarded in this difficult economy. We hope they begin the next phase of their lives in the Kokomo area. And if not here, then in Indiana.

A 2006 analysis published by The Associated Press showed cities with few college graduates have difficulty providing good-paying jobs and struggle to attract workers with university degrees. College graduates raise the base income of a community, according to the report, which was based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey of 2004.

The median income of the average American with a four-year college degree was $42,404, the report said, compared to $25,360 for the average high school graduate. About a quarter of Americans over the age of 24 have a bachelor’s degree.

In Howard County, however, just 18 percent of residents have at least a four-year degree. Here, the per-capita income for all residents is $23,424, and 16.2 percent of residents live below the poverty level.

There’s a “brain drain” in Indiana. The Hoosier state ranks near the bottom nationally in retaining and employing its college graduates, and schools here are working on remedies for the problem.

Unfortunately, the state of the economy isn’t assisting that endeavor.

Despite that, we congratulate the graduates of Kokomo’s IU, Purdue and Ivy Tech campuses. We salute their individual achievements and encourage them to make Howard County their permanent home.

This area has a lot to offer. And our graduates have a lot to offer this area.

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