Confidence in higher education is declining across the United States.
Less Americans say a college degree is very important: A increasing share believe the system is moving in the wrong direction, particularly when it comes to preparing students for employment.
Unsurprisingly, college registration has fallen in recent years. And nowhere are the issues of this decline more visible than in great poverty Southern states like Louisiana and Mississippi, where economic opportunities are unevenly distributed and fair one in four adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
For families struggling to make ends meet, the promise that education will lead to better opportunities may seem distant or unrealistic. The result is a troubling paradox: the communities that could benefit most from strong universities are often those where trust in them has eroded the most.
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In the South, Where inequality is persistent and public systems are strained, universities are one of the few types of institutions available that can reduce this strain. In fact, universities should and often does function as part of a shared civic infrastructure, but this role is largely invisible to the public. At a time when trust in institutions is fragile and public investment is limited, we can no longer afford to be invisible.
To be recognized as a public good, universities must better demonstrate how their work strengthens communities and expands opportunities in the regions they serve.
Universities can provide research funding, job opportunities, skilled workers, hospitals and cultural institutions. They can attract talent: students, faculty and entrepreneurs from across the country and around the world who build careers, create businesses, stimulate local economies and contribute powerfully to the economic and civic life of the regions around them.
But to get there, universities must first attract in-state students and bring other young people there, connect them with local employers and create the kind of research, medical and technology access ecosystems that help retain students. graduates as residents.
States like Louisiana are losing population and age faster than the national average. At the same time, many young adults who earn college degrees in poor Southern states leave for opportunities elsewherethus contributing to a brain drain of educated workers.
Political and political environments in parts of the South are fueling the exodus. For example, professors in Southern states who witnessed political interference on their campuses said they looking for a position elsewhere. And states that have banned abortion have seen a reduction among medical trainees applying to OB-GYN residency programs.
I saw a different model growing up in Mississippi, the poorest state in the country for decades. My family was part of a generation of immigrants and migrants who came to the state in the 1960s and 1970s to teach and conduct research at its universities, attracting intellectual capital from across the country and the world. Many stayed for generations; their children became doctors, entrepreneurs, educators, and taxpayers who contributed to economic and civic life.
This system worked not only because of individual drive, but also because universities created clear pathways for talent to enter, build a career, and put down roots. There were stable academic positions, research opportunities and strong links to local economies.
Today, decreasing investment in higher education, reduced career benefits university degrees and political environments which discourage higher education and international talent recruitment have weakened these pipelines, making it harder for states to attract and retain the very people who can drive long-term economic and civic growth.
Although universities provide economic, intellectual, and infrastructural benefits, poorer and less educated communities may receive fewer of these benefits. Medical schools clearly illustrate this dynamic. Most there are still newly trained doctors in the states where they were trained, but we see lower retention in poorer states, many of which are in the South. In Louisiana, about half of medical school graduates ultimately leave the state.
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It is essential to strengthen the pathways between education and employment in the state. Universities must strengthen partnerships with health systems, schools, and local industries to create paid internships, field placements, and residency tracks that integrate students into communities during their training. These experiences not only build skills, but also increase the likelihood that graduates will stay and work in the regions where they were trained.
Work that is tied to a local community and designed to be responsive and accountable to that local community benefits the community and, in turn, students and researchers who participate in that work feel more connected and connected to the community, thereby increasing their propensity to stay and produce work that, by design, contributes to the public good.
I have taken these lessons to heart in my own work as a public health researcher at a university in Louisiana. With support from students and local research staff, I lead the analysis of statewide violence surveys that provide demographic data on domestic violence, sexual violence, and other forms of harm in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and we provide these reports to policymakers, advocates, and public agencies to help them understand patterns of violence.
This impact is already visible. Our population-based surveys produced statewide estimates of domestic violence and quantified its economic costs – evidence that helped make the case for increased public investment. In Louisiana, advocates used data to secure $7 million in public fundinghelping to double capacity for survivors seeking safety and providing a vital source of public knowledge.
No institution can address workforce, health and economic challenges alone, but universities must play a major role in becoming an integral part of the civic infrastructure, providing community benefits and restoring trust in institutions.
Anita Raj, a native of Mississippi, is executive director of the Newcomb Institute and professor of public health at Tulane University in Louisiana, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Contact the opinion editor at opinion@hechingerreport.org.
This story on public trust in Southern universities was produced by The Hechinger reportan independent, nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Register with Hechinger weekly newsletter.
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