Every year, public and private sector leaders try to figure out how to keep college graduates—who are prone to flock to big cities like Chicago—here in the Lansing area.
During the
Earn, Learn and Intern event at
Michigan State University (MSU) this past August,
Capital Gains conducted an extremely informal survey of
millennials—trapping students as they left the fair and begging them to tell us what would keep them here after graduation.
Here’s what we learned.
Power of PlaceLocation, job benefits, salary and upward professional mobility were at the top of the students’ “must-have” lists.
Companies can do something about the last three, but it’s the first one that students are most drawn to, and it's the hardest one to deal with.
“I think what’s interesting from a career services perspective is that we’re seeing more people graduating now who look at a location and worry about getting a job when they get there,” says John Hill with
MSU’s alumni services. “That’s a great big departure from what happened with
Generation X and
Baby Boomers.”
Interestingly, while the majority of the students we interviewed said they plan on leaving the Lansing region after graduating, not one of them said they disliked the area.
“I think this place is very peaceful and very beautiful,” says Fan Zhang, a 24-year-old
Xi’an, China native who is studying
urban planning. Zhang, who comes from a large city, says the Capital region’s
bus system is pretty decent and there’s plenty of nightlife. “I’m just not sure if it’s for me or my job development.”
Emily Taylor, a 19-year-old advertising major from Brighton, acknowledges that the Lansing area has a lot of art and culture, but says “I’m really into bigger cities and the hustle and bustle there.”
The Lansing area also has plenty of entertainment options, says Eric Rue, a 21-year-old accounting major from
St. Joseph, on
Michigan’s west coast—and his idea of the Capital region doesn’t even extend beyond East Lansing.
So if these kids don’t have anything against the Lansing area particularly, what’s the problem?
What Do They Want?Many of the students simply wanted to live in a big city. And for young professionals starting out, maybe that makes sense.
“Along with being around more people, you can make more connections,” says Rue of the big city attraction. “It’s not about
what you know, but
who you know.”
Students also want a “cool city”, and they just don’t see this area as cool, Hill says. Chicago definitely does resonate as cool, and consequently claims about 22,000 MSU alumni as residents.
“If you look in the Detroit area right now on
LinkedIn, there are about 22,000 jobs available,” Hill says. “But for whatever reason, the fact that this is a cool place to live is not resonating with the students.”
“Part of that is a perception issue,” he says. “They’re watching Detroit and—whether we like it or not—the City of Detroit is interconnected with the auto industry.”
And in this day and age, the auto industry is synonymous with bad news and an old way of thinking—a reputation that seems too often to overshadow the abundance of new economy jobs available in Michigan.
Another part of the ‘Leave Mid-Michigan, do not pass go, do not collect $200’ mentality is simply an urge to see the wider world.
“I’ve been in Michigan my whole life and I’d like to branch out a little bit,” Rue says. “I liked growing up in St. Joe,” he adds. “I think it’s a good place where I’d like to have my kids.”
Rue’s not the only student who views the Capital region as a good place to live post-youth. “I’m still young,” Fan Zhang agrees. “When I’m old, maybe I’ll come back here.”
Beyond BigCarol Coletta is with
CEOs for Cities, a group of urban leaders trying to create the “country’s next generation of cities.” She says it’s nearly impossible for an area like Lansing to compete directly with large cities, especially when students are hell-bent on trying something new.
“The only thing mid-sized cities can do is bet on the quality of life factors you have delivered,” Coletta says. “You can’t be all things to all people.”
For Lansing, that means working with what we’ve got and highlighting it.
“The Army’s ‘Be All You Can Be’ mantra, that really fits for smaller communities,” she says. “When you really understand your distinctiveness, you build a great place.”
Hill agrees. “I don’t think the City of Lansing needs to worry about a city like Chicago, but cities like Madison and Raleigh—they’re smaller cities, but they do a great job attracting and retaining Generation Y,” Hill says.
“Part of that is that they’ve made a really good sense of place," he says. "A good strategy here is the redevelopment in Lansing.”
Rue has indeed heard about some new developments that might help make the Capital region more attractive to students. The lofts and restaurants proposed in the $120 million
City Center II development in
East Lansing will probably help, he says.
Facts are FactsBut the truth is, while these amenities are more big city-like, neither Lansing or East Lansing is a major city. And that fact is why we can’t keep Rue here right now.
While the Lansing area could try to get college graduates to stay put instead of heading off to experience the big city, what we learned in talking to the students themselves is that’s probably the wrong approach.
It’s more likely that we should let them go, but start making sure they carry a warmer feeling about the Lansing area when they go, and welcoming them with open arms when they’re ready to come back.
The area’s biggest growth companies constantly tell Capital Gains that they stay in the Lansing area because it’s a great place to raise kids and their employees enjoy the quality of life.
With some attention and focus from regional leaders, those become the building blocks of an identity. The Lansing area offers
great parks,
cheap housing, diversity, access to colleges and universities, an
international airport, a
minor league baseball team, safe neighborhoods and good schools.
“The companies in this area also need to identify with students earlier, before their junior or senior year,” adds Hill. “That’s when you lose them to bigger companies, because they don’t have affiliation with or attraction to the area.”
Which is where events like the the
Earn, Learn and Intern event play a vital role. Even if we can’t keep students like Rue and Zhang here right now, we can put the idea in their heads that Lansing is a good place to return.
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Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached
here.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
Earn, Learn and Intern at MSU
Fan Zhang
Emily Taylor
Eric Rue
Students get internship information from LEAP at the Earn, Learn and Intern event
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie