Beijos!

Would it be weird however to fly in, meet with the 3 or so people who are making the decision, meet with students, get a tour, and then lunch with some staff and fly out after half a day?

Although I think this discussion is valid, for me personally it doesn’t necessarily apply – I did my graduate work at private schools.

I also agree with Kevin – you get in-state rights because of the amount of time you’ve been in the state (and presumably paid taxes). Education as a public good assumes the state “owes” me this education, if I attend class, complete assignments, etc. Requiring someone to remain in the state sounds way too much like indentured servitude to me.

First and foremost, much of your argument seems to be completely rooted in capitalistic terms where the only things that are valuable are those that have been monetized. For example, you write about “ROI” and value in purely economic terms. That bothers me not because they are unimportant but because there are other things that are also important. The strongest counter argument I can muster is the classic idea of the value of a well-educated and literate electorate, value that doesn’t necessarily map to economic value but is inherently critical for a democratic society. Another strong counter argument focuses on the other resources and experiences that are undervalued in economic terms but important to us all i.e. the arts, education.

Second, it seems unrealistic and unfair to expect people – especially young people if we’re talking about traditional students – to *know* that they want to live in a particular state many years in advance. Jeff brought up the practical point of “can they stay e.g. will there be a job available?” which is a very similar counter argument.

Your final point about decreasing state funding levels making this a moot discussion is a good albeit depressing point. It seems like we’re not really willing to have this discussion and are instead backing into it. The discussions about the DREAM Act and its state-level equivalents seem to be the main arena for this discussion and they’re charged with so much nationalism and racism that I don’t know if it’s a fair gauge of public opinion on this different issue.

When I worked at UT-Austin’s Business School companies came from all around the US to recruit our students. That was one of the reason it was ranked so high (5th at the time, not sure now). When companies came to visit they brought their checkbook creating scholarships, funding leadership programs, and endowing professorships. If students were discourages to leave the state that would all go away. It would be interesting to see the flow of out of state money/donations versus the number of students leaving the state for employment.

Back to the example of your friend. I do not know how the NC tax system is, but I’m sure he and his family have paid a fair amount of taxes into the system. That should count for something.

Lastly there is always a question of major employers. Does NC have enough major employer to pay a competitive wage for all the graduates of NC? When I worked at The U of A it was assumed many of the student would leave AZ due to lack of employment opportunities. CA, NY, TX would not have this problem, but how would other states deal with this?

The UT Austin budget only gets 14% of their operating budget from the state. If funding levels continue to decrease it may be a moot point as they privatize higher education.