Indianapolis Star: Private colleges bring students to Indiana. We need state support.

By Dr. Tanuja Singh, University of Indianapolis President

Indiana and Indiana businesses — from the smallest not-for-profits and startups to the Fortune 500s — need talented college graduates who have the skills needed for today’s world.

Indiana is an attractive destination when it comes to recruiting students to its universities and colleges. But our advantage evaporates when it comes to retaining these graduates; we rank 40th in the country in terms of college graduate retention. Since the Indiana Commission for Higher Education started tracking this metric more than five years ago, this problem of brain drain among the best and brightest is not merely persistent, it is getting worse. [continue reading]