Taxpayers worry over flighty graduates

Oh, the places you’ll go — a phrase that is sometimes synonymous with graduating is now on the minds of many seniors leaving Chapel Hill.

When it comes to post-graduation plans, many seniors must choose whether to leave North Carolina or to stay.

Almost 50 percent of students will leave the state after graduation, according to a new report by Career Services that will be released later this month.

Ray Angle, director of University Career Services, said there might be a public concern that the state does not get a solid return on its investment in the public university system.

“Across the state there is always the concern that we are losing our intelligent people out-of-state and we are training them here,” Angle said.

Ian Lee, a graduate of the class of 2012 and a former member of The Daily Tar Heel’s editorial board, initially worked in Research Triangle Park, but later decided to take a job at a cyber-security start-up in Massachusetts.

Lee said he believes it is important for students to be happy where they are.

“UNC’s primary focus has to be on students first, the state second,” Lee said.

The decision to keep people in-state boils down to what the state has to offer, Angle said.

“How do we make it more attractive to live in-state than out-state?” he said.

Angle said he believes students look for good primary education, health care, recreational activities and good job prospects in the locations they choose after graduation.

“There are all of the these things that the state has to do, and employers have to promote across the nation to make sure that this is an attractive place for not only people in-state, but the talent they are looking for out-of-state,” Angle said.

Senior Andrew Hunt found a job in Durham which he said is the ideal location for him.

“It is the right distance for me,” he said. “I wanted to get out of the realm of Chapel Hill, but I still wanted to be in the area.”

Hunt said he thinks a mix of students staying in-state and leaving the state is needed.

“I do not believe North Carolina has enough jobs for all of the graduates,” he said.

Angle said it is not part of Career Services’ role to tell students and recent graduates where they should live for work.

“We do not push people to specific geographic locations,” he said.

Angle said that the number of graduates staying in-state this year is 52.7 percent.

For Hunt, it was important to separate his future location from his college town.

“There was a level of comfort but it is far enough away that I could start my personal life after college,” he said.

Hunt said he would not be opposed to leaving.

“I like North Carolina,” he said. “But I am willing to go other places.”

university@dailytarheel.com