Hoosier Hope Scholarship

We have talked about it for years—Indiana’s “brain drain.” 

Indiana invests more than $100,000 on average for every student we educate in our K-12 public school system.  Our state also ranks among the top ten in need-based aid to our college students, spending nearly $200 million on various grants and scholarship programs in 2005-06.  Yet, after graduating from college, more than one in every three Hoosiers leave Indiana, taking jobs and paying taxes elsewhere. 

Our investment is going down the drain.

Indiana ranks 44th among states in percentage of college graduates in the workforce, leaving our state with a huge skill gap.  The Indiana Department of Workforce Development estimates that by 2014, this skill gap will result in Indiana employers being unable to fill 220,000 jobs that require a post-secondary degree.

Our ability to attract and fill high-skill, high-wage jobs is going down the drain.

The median annual earnings for a high school graduate in this country is $23,935; it is $31,368 for a person with an associate’s degree, $40,994 for a person with a bachelor’s degree, and $51,536 for a person with a master’s degree.  Due in large part to our poor educational attainment, Hoosiers earn just 91 cents for every dollar earned by the average American.  Unfortunately, decreased earnings aren’t the only result of poor educational attainment.  Statistically, less education also results in diminished employment prospects; less stable employment; slower re-employment when dislocated; decreased pension coverage; less health insurance coverage; more dependence on public assistance; increased crime; less civic participation; decreased charitable contributions; and less healthy lifestyles. 

Our quality of life is going down the drain.

The “brain drain” is real, and the human and financial costs to Indiana are painfully real as well.  So how can we keep our college graduates here?  How do we plug the “brain drain”?

This year, the Indiana General Assembly will vote on a plan that would help.  The current proposal creates a Hoosier Hope Scholarship program for deserving high school graduates.  Students attending a four-year public or private institution would receive $5,000 annually; those attending a two-year institution would receive $2,500.  To qualify for these merit-based scholarships, students must agree to live and work in Indiana for three years after graduation; otherwise, the scholarship turns into a loan and must be repaid.

The Hoosier Hope Scholarship program is a win-win proposition.  More of our young people could stay in Indiana, close to family and friends, getting off on the right foot with little or no college debt.  More college graduates in the labor pool would mean rising wages for all Hoosiers.  And because a skilled workforce is a critical priority for so many industries, better education rankings would also lead to high-skill, high-wage job creation and economic development opportunities.

We can’t afford to keep exporting our graduates to other states after we have made significant investments in preparing them to succeed.  We need a program like the Hoosier Hope Scholarship to plug the “brain drain,” and we need it now.

James L. Steck
Chancellor
Ivy Tech Community College