Graduation is this weekend for many Milwaukee area schools. Bill Cosby will be at my alma mater, Marquette University, for its ceremony on Sunday.
I’ve cited this before, but the Milwaukee region has one of the highest college students-per-capita ratios in the United States. Local colleges, universities and technical schools enroll more than 100,000 students in any given year, including 60,000 in undergraduate programs, 15,000 in graduate programs and 25,000 in associate degree and vocational diploma programs. Milwaukee’s a college town.
And, college educated people in their 20s and 30s are moving to cities. From 2006 to 2011, major metro areas grew their college populations 17 percent. Milwaukee, according to this story, grew 45.3 percent. This makes it a leader, behind only San Antonio. Sure, you can argue we had further to grow. But, growth is growth.
A new USA Today analysis details the metro areas that saw spikes in population of people ages 20 to 30 with a bachelor's degree. All major metros are listed.
Also important in the graduation game is getting our area’s current students to graduate. Remember this study? One percent means $1 billion.
Keep it up and step it up, Milwaukee. We can and must continue to do better.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
