Illinois ongoing talent drain

   I took my daughter to her first illini football game when she was five.  As with many things I do, there was several layers of motivation. I wanted to have fun but I also wanted her to remember the campus when it was 65 and sunny, the leaves turning and marching bands playing. When the time came, I wanted her to think fondly of the university of Illinois and make it her top choice for college.  I graduated from Illinois in 1983 and I have 5 siblings who are also u of I graduates. We are all fiercely proud of our alma mater and hoped that we could share that experience with the next generation. My plan was successful and my daughter made plans early in her academic career  to study business at Illinois. She even asked us if she could paint her room orange and blue, to which I said of course and my wife said absolutely not. I guess you win a few, you lose a few.  My daughter turned out to be an outstanding high school student receiving straight a's and a near perfect score on the act's. I don't mention this to boast of her success, but only to illustrate an important component of the talent drain that currently exists in the once great state of Illinois.  At the time of college applications it became painfully apparent that neighboring states like Indiana and Ohio were far more interested in luring top students to their states with significant financial incentives. Aside from the individual frustration my family feels there is a far more compelling macro economic issue at play here. Law makers in this state don't understand the scenario that plays out when a top student pursues academic goals outside the state.  If we send the best students ,in the state ,to Michigan or to penn or to Indiana we greatly increase the likelihood that they leave the state to pursue careers in other states.  Lets look at it this way,  when the university of Illinois attracts a talented student from Dallas or from Mumbai, to study business,there is probably a 50/50 chance that they return home after school as opposed working in Chicago. If a talented student from northbrook studies business at Illinois the chances of them staying local are far greater.  It is obviously difficult to figure out the exact statistics on this migration of talent but the university of Indiana has figured out something as evidenced by their Kelley business school consistently beating the university of Illinois in national rankings.  I'm certain that the law makers and administrators in Springfield have a difficult time seeing the long term economic benefits of extending scholarships to local students when juxtaposed against appeal of foreign students paying retail.  This suggests to me that few of them studied macro economic theory at the university of Illinois. Yes, that last sentence was an attempt to be cute and a little harsh but not to obfuscate the fact that the state of Illinois continually makes decisions that erode our competitiveness with neighboring states.  Up until several months ago, Illinois had a program where law makers could waive tuition for state university's for a certain number of recipients.  That program was scrapped amid allegations of misuse and corruption.  The reason I bring that up is to illustrate that this is a perfect time to institute a merit based scholarship program for Illinois residents. 

I have a fear that any proposed program will immediately  morph into a need based system. Although , I fully understand the importance of helping those less fortunate I am strictly talking about the highest achievers regardless of race or economic situation as a means to keep our brightest at home. My family has been fortunate enough to be able to pay for an education no matter what we decide.  But, make no mistake about this, we would never pay 25,000$ more to study finance at Illinois instead of Indiana. Anyone who would do that has failed their first lesson in finance.