Jeremy Siegel is co-host of Morning Edition at GBH News. Feedback? Questions? Story ideas? Reach out to Jeremy at jeremy_siegel@wgbh.org.
May 13, 2024
Jeremy Siegel: This is GBH's Morning Edition. Half a million undergrad and graduate students will earn their degrees from colleges across Massachusetts this spring, but many of them will end up moving somewhere else. Governor Maura Healey wants to do something about that. With commencement season picking up, she is pitching her $3.5 billion economic development bill as a tool to help keep those new graduates and their skills in state. We're joined now by GBH statehouse reporter Katie Lannan. Good morning. Katie.
Katie Lannan: Hey, Jeremy. Good morning.
Siegel: So a recent survey found that roughly a quarter of young adults in Greater Boston are thinking about leaving the area. That's a trend unfolding across the state that has raised concern. As you've reported, the governor wants to use her economics bill to prevent graduates from leaving. How exactly would this bill do that?
Lannan: So the core of this bill is really a pair of billion-dollar, 10-year investments in the life sciences and climate technology. And to grow those fields, there's going to need to be trained workers. So this bill includes a lot of workforce training money in general, and money for the Massachusetts Educational Financing Agency to help students and their families pay for college. Aside from that, the thing that Governor Healey is really pushing here is that it also establishes a new tax credit that would reward companies taking on interns from local colleges. The idea behind that being that if it's a good work experience and so you have a connection to that company, you're meeting people who work there, developing relationships, it helps you build roots in Massachusetts as a college student or a recent grad.
Siegel: So it sounds like this could help encourage people who are leaving school to stay for work. But as I noted, young people across the board are considering leaving. Why focus on college graduates specifically and not young people or people in their 20s more generally?
Lannan: So you hear a few things from the Healey administration here, including that they have made investments in efforts targeting different pieces of that population to help get the skills they need to get good jobs that are in demand, whether that's free community college for people over 25 without degrees, or efforts to bring career pathways into high schools. But this focus on college students is a recognition that as the Massachusetts population ages, which will ultimately change the dynamics of the workforce, that people are already coming here from all over the world to attend the state's dozens of colleges and universities. So it's a question of keeping here the people who are already coming in. We can hear Yvonne Hao, Healey's economic development secretary, talking about tapping into that resource.
Yvonne Hao: We are wicked smart in our state. We have some of the best homegrown talent. We have amazing public education. And we have, as the governor and lieutenant governor said, the world's best brains coming to our state to study. So the question is, how do we continue to retain that talent? And that is the secret sauce that supercharges all of our economic growth.
Siegel: Katie, Healey herself says the reason that young people leave the state is because of the sky-high housing costs here. Does this bill at all address that piece?
Lannan: So not particularly in this bill itself, but we hear the governor pitching it in concert with another multi-billion dollar bond bill that does focus on housing. That bill, also moving through the legislature, aims to spur the construction of new housing units and opportunities for first-time homebuyers, but also make it easier to build in-law apartments, things like that. And we also hear from the governor that the state needs to work on improving its transportation system and making childcare more affordable. The cost of living pain points that affect not only where people choose to live, but where startups and other companies choose to locate.
Siegel: So this measure just had a hearing in the state House last week. How likely do you think it is that it actually becomes law?
Lannan: So some part of the bill is almost guaranteed to become law. These big bond bills are something the legislature does every session. The question will be what lawmakers choose to include of the governor's specific proposals. And they'll have their own ideas for creating jobs, along with earmarks for local projects from across the state. So while this bill will almost definitely make it to the governor's desk, the question will be what form it takes on before it lands there this summer.
Siegel: Even if these measures that aim to keep students in the state pass, how much of it is just a Band-Aid rather than a true solution to broader problems that have people leaving?
Lannan: Yeah. I mean, as you talk about things like transportation, child care, housing, these are all things that Beacon Hill has been talking about for years. And even something like getting an internship is one piece of that puzzle. This is an issue that goes beyond just a matter of getting a job. It's something that goes beyond any one piece of legislation. And something policymakers in Massachusetts are going to have to unwind.
Half a million undergrad and graduate students will earn their degrees from colleges across Massachusetts this spring.
But many of them will end up moving somewhere else: A recent survey from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that roughly a quarter of young adults in Greater Boston are thinking about leaving the area in the next five years.
“We are wicked smart in our state. We have some of the best homegrown talent,” said Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao. “We have amazing public education. And we have, as the governor and lieutenant governor said, the world's best brains coming to our state to study. So the question is, how do we continue to retain that talent?”
Governor Maura Healey said she wants to do something about that. With commencement season picking up, she is pitching her $3.5 billion economic development bill as a tool to help keep those new graduates and their skills in state. GBH State House reporter Katie Lannan joined Morning Edition co-host Jeremy Siegel to talk through the nuts and bolts of the plan. Here’s what you should know, and what it could include.
High costs are driving people away
Healey herself has said the reason that young people leave the state is because of the sky-high housing costs.
Healey’s economic development legislation doesn’t deal with the issue directly, but it has been presented along with a housing bond bill.
“We hear the governor pitching it in concert with another multi-billion dollar bond bill that does focus on housing,” Lannan said. “That bill, also moving through the Legislature, aims to spur the construction of new housing units and opportunities for first-time homebuyers, but also make it easier to build in-law apartments.”
Other factors that have residents considering relocating the Bay State: Problems with transportation and high childcare costs.
“The cost of living pain points affect not only where people choose to live, but where startups and other companies choose to locate,” Lannan said.
Why focus on college graduates?
There have been efforts to target various populations being pushed out of the state, Lannan said, including trying to make community college more accessible for people older than 25 without college degrees.
“But this focus on college students is a recognition that as the Massachusetts population ages, it will ultimately change the dynamics of the workforce,” Lannan said. “People are already coming here from all over the world to attend the state's dozens of colleges and universities.”
Investing in life sciences and climate technology
One thing that could help keep young people in the region: Well-paying jobs.
“The core of this bill is really a pair of billion-dollar, 10-year investments in the life sciences and climate technology,” Lannan said. “To grow those fields, there's going to need to be trained workers.”
The bill includes money for workforce training and funds for the Massachusetts Educational Financing Agency to help students and their families pay for college.
Healey is also pushing for a new tax credit that would reward companies taking on interns from local colleges.
“The idea behind that being that if it's a good work experience and so you have a connection to that company, you're meeting people who work there, developing relationships, it helps you build roots in Massachusetts as a college student or a recent grad,” Lannan said.
What's next
Some part of the bill is almost guaranteed to become law, Lannan said.
“These big bond bills are something the Legislature does every session,” she said. “The question will be what lawmakers choose to include of the governor's specific proposals. And they'll have their own ideas for creating jobs, along with earmarks for local projects from across the state.”
Another question at stake: Will these proposals be enough?
“Transportation, child care, housing — these are all things that Beacon Hill has been talking about for years,” Lannan said. “It's something that goes beyond any one piece of legislation. And something policymakers in Massachusetts are going to have to unwind.”
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