Students seek sunnier skies, salaries

Revitalization efforts in Pittsburgh face a problem. Professor Susan Hansen calls it the… Revitalization efforts in Pittsburgh face a problem. Professor Susan Hansen calls it the “brain drain.” Simply stated, college graduates leave immediately after their four years.

For some students the city has earned a bad reputation.

“It’s a great town for college, but for single young professionals there are places with better night life,” Student Government Board President Brian Kelly said. “You can also make more money not in Pittsburgh with the same job.”

A 2004 Forbes Magazine survey supported Kelly’s claims by rating Pittsburgh the worst city for singles.

Hansen’s research through the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs found that 54 percent of Pittsburgh-area graduates found their first jobs in the Pittsburgh region

After a year or so, most students leave, with the major concern being lack of job opportunities.

Kelly said that students immediately leaving Pittsburgh is an issue SGB has never addressed.

“Though Career Services does a great job offering opportunities, there is really no move to have people stay here,” Kelly said.

Hansen said that Pitt is not necessarily responsible to make living in Pittsburgh a priority for students.

“I’m not sure that’s the University’s job,” she said, “We are a national and international research university, not a regional college. The University is training students to make best possible use of their skills anywhere in the world.”

Sean Capperis, president of the Urban Studies Association, sees the lack of continuity in Pittsburgh’s economy as a major problem.

“Not as a representative of the Urban Studies Association or the department, but I think that the University should be taking a responsibility for the well being of Pittsburgh and Oakland on an economic basis,” he said.

Capperis leads programs that connect students to the city’s revitalization efforts. He said he wants “to show what’s so great about Pittsburgh.”

“If the University really wants to prepare us for the real world, the programs should be connecting and contributing back to the community,” Capperis added.

Research from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs shows that 73 percent of the recent graduates working in Pittsburgh went to high school here.

Of the “leavers,” the research found that 66 percent were dissatisfied with cultural events, 65 percent with outdoor activities, 68 percent with eating out, 61 percent with active sports, 67 percent with spectator sports and 59 percent with religious life.

To facilitate in the revitalization effort, the Urban Studies Association offers tours throughout Pittsburgh relating to social issues. Its members do a lot of cross-promotion, like encouraging voting in local elections, collecting data for a Downtown living initiative and working as advocates for people living Downtown.

The Urban Studies Association is currently working with the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation to adopt a block every month and plans on hosting a colloquium on career opportunities in Pittsburgh for students interested in working in the public realm.

The goal is to get students internships with firms in Pittsburgh with potential job openings upon the student’s graduation.

In the meantime, however, students keep leaving.

“Business is mobile, you don’t really have a choice if you want to move up in the business world,” Kelly said. “For me, Pitt has done its job and now I’m out.”