Lilly Endowment offers millions to plug brain drain

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Lilly Endowment will offer public and private universities up to $40 million to find ways to keep graduates from leaving Indiana.\nIt is the latest in a series of Lilly grants over the past several years aimed at bolstering the state's colleges.\nThe program announced Tuesday is aimed specifically at plugging Indiana's so-called "brain drain."\nA recent study by The Indianapolis Star found the state had lost 96,000 college graduates in the past decade. And 36 percent of Hoosiers leave the state after graduating from college, according to a 1999 study by the Fiscal Policy Institute.\nExperts say that has a chilling effect on the state's economy.\n"Indiana is not well-prepared to prosper in the future," said Sara B. Cobb, the endowment's vice president for education.\nEndowment officials want the state's seven public and 31 private colleges to develop programs linking them with businesses and community groups to increase the chances of jobs and internships.\nPurdue University spokesman Joseph Bennett said the grants would enhance that school's existing initiatives -- such as five high-tech job fairs for Indiana employers -- that have increased the percentage of graduates staying in the state.\nThe grants also could mean adding staff or creating new programs in college placement offices, said Gretchen Wolfram, a spokeswoman for the endowment.\nColleges have until mid-October to apply for the grants, which will be awarded in late December. Grants that are approved would be awarded based on total student enrollment.\nIU's campuses could receive a total of $5.5 million; Purdue's campuses, $3.5 million; Ivy Tech State College, $2.5 million; and Ball State University, $1.5 million.\nIndiana State, the University of Southern Indiana and Vincennes University could receive $1 million each.\nAmong private institutions, the University of Notre Dame and Indiana Wesleyan could get $1 million. The rest can receive $750,000.