Eating our grad school seed corn?

by David Safier

Plenty of people are applying to go to college in Arizona as undergrads, but graduate school enrollment has fallen slightly.

It may just be a bump in the road. But if it's more than that, the future of Arizona's ability to attract and hold businesses that produce high paying jobs may be in even more trouble than it is already. Businesses paying high salaries need a surplus of people with bachelors and advanced degrees.

Things look even worse when compared against nationwide trends, where grad school enrollments are up 4 to 6 percent.

Think of this as a young adult stock market. If they see a rising tide of employment in the future, they'll invest in their own "education stocks" now. If, on the other hand, they see a shrinking degree-based job market in the future, they'll hold off on their investment in grad school.

The unfortunate result is one of those vicious circle, self-fulfilling prophecy situations. If fewer people have graduate degrees because they fear they won't translate into jobs, then fewer jobs will materialize for people with graduate degrees.

Not a good situation. And the solution isn't to cut money to schools so we can cut taxes to corporations.