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While the chamber of commerce folks in Greenville rarely admit the real facts, this sounds like a good summary of the challenges facing Greenville as it tries to take the next step as an area. 99 out of 100 folks in Greenville would never guess that they trail Charleston and Columbia in income and education. But, for the city to become more than a nice downtown surrounded by a sea of sprawl, having higher education levels is a huge hurdle to break.
There are some videos by Yandle & Hughes that are worth watching. Chris Williams from Charlotte moderated the discussion.
While the chamber of commerce folks in Greenville rarely admit the real facts, this sounds like a good summary of the challenges facing Greenville as it tries to take the next step as an area. 99 out of 100 folks in Greenville would never guess that they trail Charleston and Columbia in income and education. But, for the city to become more than a nice downtown surrounded by a sea of sprawl, having higher education levels is a huge hurdle to break.
There are some videos by Yandle & Hughes that are worth watching. Chris Williams from Charlotte moderated the discussion.
in greenville's defense columbia and charleston have an academic advantage. columbia has he largest state university right downtown and charleston has a decent sized state school downtown plus that military college right downtown as well. greenville's academic claim to fame is a network of community colleges sparsely dotting the area with clemson several miles away and 2 small colleges outside the city limits. if clemson were in downtown greenville it'd be a different tune.
can't speak for income but education differences between the 3 is a no brainer.
in greenville's defense columbia and charleston have an academic advantage. columbia has he largest state university right downtown and charleston has a decent sized state school downtown plus that military college right downtown as well. greenville's academic claim to fame is a network of community colleges sparsely dotting the area with clemson several miles away and 2 small colleges outside the city limits. if clemson were in downtown greenville it'd be a different tune.
can't speak for income but education differences between the 3 is a no brainer.
in greenville's defense columbia and charleston have an academic advantage. columbia has he largest state university right downtown and charleston has a decent sized state school downtown plus that military college right downtown as well. greenville's academic claim to fame is a network of community colleges sparsely dotting the area with clemson several miles away and 2 small colleges outside the city limits. if clemson were in downtown greenville it'd be a different tune.
can't speak for income but education differences between the 3 is a no brainer.
Metro Greenville does include Clemson. And, you should not excuse it away, I think the thought of the forum was that Greenville needs to do more to attract college educated folks, much like Charlotte has done.
As for Columbia, having the university only exposes the kids to the city, they have to chose to remain as they graduate. Over 20k undergrads does not exactly help Columbia. You could just as easily say Greenville sits on I85 between two hyper fast growing areas, that is a huge built in advantage of attracting industry, the city should have better numbers. The question is how to get there. So, how do you get there?
I have a BS and have started trying to find a new biology field job. There are virtually no jobs to apply to around here. The hospitals want medical techs and all other places just want manufacturing drones. Having moved from Asheville where I thought there were a lack of jobs it now looks like a bio haven compared to here. Manufacturing can only support a community so much. They need to start brining in more professional companies if they want Greenville to flourish.
As for Columbia, having the university only exposes the kids to the city, they have to chose to remain as they graduate. Over 20k undergrads does not exactly help Columbia. You could just as easily say Greenville sits on I85 between two hyper fast growing areas, that is a huge built in advantage of attracting industry, the city should have better numbers. The question is how to get there. So, how do you get there?
They do. The only people crazy enough to stay in Columbia are the newly minted college graduates who are not eager to part with the wild ways of their youth. Or something like that. I moved to Columbia and lived there for close to three years. I hated every minute of it. But there is a large group of people who love it. When I started asking why, most people I encountered said it was because they went to USC. But with that being said, with the number of professors there, the numbers will be skewed.
I went to College of Charleston, and Charleston is still very much inhabited by old money, which in my mind translates to better education. The city also attracts a lot of new money Yankee transplants, also better educated. The fact of the matter is that the cost of living is so high there that you have to have the education in order to make the money to live.
I don't think this is a dig at Greenville, nor do I believe that Columbia or Charleston are better because they make more money (I actually make more in Greenville than I did in Columbia). It's simply history. Greenville and the Upstate was until recently based on a rural and textile economy. There was no reason to go beyond high school (or in some cases, even graduate) when you had a job already waiting for you. You have to remember that the last generation of mill workers are still very much alive and most likely struggling unless they tapped into some re-education programs.
Both Columbia and Charleston were not tied to the textile industry as much at the Upstate, thus people were forced to seek other avenues of employment, which probably resulted in better education.
What concerns me the most across the board are all of these fly-by-night for-profit colleges that lure the lower income folks in with promises of quick education and job opportunities. It's time SC get on board with the reality that some students are not destined for higher education. There's nothing wrong with that but instead of forcing kids into years of rote learning and standardized testing, equip them for technical careers that they will be able to make good money in. A welder, for instance, will probably make more money a year than I ever will with my bachelors degree. I believe North Carolina allows students to begin tech school/2 year school classes in high school. Some are so accelerated that the student can graduate from high school with a 2 year degree in hand already.
Ive been saying this for a long time. They need to focus more on what the younger generations think, like to do, and focus on more variety of work. All this manufacturing stuff is great, but without diversity, I fear the area will tank again.
Since Columbia Opportunity Resource linked up with the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce, with an actual COR member appointed as a USC-Chamber-Columbia liaison, graduating college students have at least been made more aware of career opportunities in Columbia than they used to be. IT-ology has also helped link graduating college students with hard-to-fill IT positions. Greenville now has an IT-ology branch. Columbia doesn't mind sharing its successful models. Raleigh, Dallas and another city or two have also come to Columbia to see what IT-ology is about and have established their own branches as well.
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