<p>*Despite the economic downturn, the Raleigh-Cary area grew by more than 4 percent last year, making it the nation’s fastest-growing metro area, according to Forbes magazine.</p>
<p>The magazine rated Raleigh as the No. 1 city where Americans are relocating. Charlotte was third on the list, behind Austin, Texas.*</p>
<p>*The recession could be a lot worse for people in the Triangle than it is, according to Forbes magazine.</p>
<p>In its annual Best Places for Business and Careers rankings, Forbes said no metro area in the U.S. can compare to Raleigh. It was the third year in a row that Raleigh topped the list.*</p>
<p>barrons,
No argument from me that these financial issues of great importance to privates as well. To the extent that a particular institution relied upon its endowment for funding its operations, it’s clear that they are immediately impacted and their future competitive position is less clear than a year ago. </p>
<p>Longer-term, the health of the higher education consumer will significantly affect his/her willingness to pony up $40-50k a year for a private college (or an OOS public). IMO, the longer that this financial difficulty goes on, the more differentiation this period will produce. Colleges with good financial aid and/or merit aid will have the upper hand in terms of the value that they offer to prospective students. And, as hoedown has pointed out, this also is a propitious time to entice new faculty that can enhance a school’s reputation within the industry and with students.</p>
<p>According to Forbes, maybe it is the Bay Area that needs to be looking to Raleigh for input. Four of the top 10 worst cities for jobs according to Forbes are in California.</p>
<p>“And, as hoedown has pointed out, this also is a propitious time to entice new faculty that can enhance a school’s reputation within the industry and with students.”</p>
<p>I don’t understand. New faculty can enhance a school’s reputation within the industry and students, but faculty that doesn’t switch schools can’t?</p>
<p>Or is this reputation meaningless, either way?</p>
<p>Well, if given trends continue, I don’t want to see California in 500 years. Besides, they are way overdue for the “Big One”; that has to be bad for business. :)</p>
<p>cuse,
I don’t know how familiar you are with California in general and the Bay Area in particular, but it’s a pretty fabulous business environment. Or at least it used to be. And my guess is that it will be again as there is such breadth, depth, intelligence, energy, creativity, money, will, etc. there. Not to mention that California is the largest beneficiary of Asian imigration to the USA, many of which come with large brains and contribute mightily to the California economy.</p>
<p>North Carolina has three major population centers (Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and Greensboro-Winston Salem) with a total population of about 5.5 million (which is less than the SF Bay Area’s estimated 7.5 million). North Carolina is growing and business is diversified and well managed, but there really is no comparison between what goes on in the Research Triangle and Silicon Valley. If you haven’t seen it, the differences in scale are huuuuuuuuuge. And for another important segment of North Carolina’s economy and future growth, if you were to pick between Charlotte-based Bank of America and SF-based Wells Fargo, I think most would go with Wells. </p>
<p>The problem for California is its tax situation is driving a lot of brains and money out of the state. Coupled with the budget problem and the prospective route that the pols will take to solve it, this could either get better or worse. With large consequences for places like the UC schools. Perhaps not immediately, but IMO the pols are playing with fire and acting like they are entitled to more and more of the wealth created. We’ll see how far this goes, but trust me when I say that, if California gets its act together, there is not a better business environment in the USA (even if the cost of living there is insane). The only sizable cities that are close for creativity and innovation are Dallas and Boston and we’ll see about NoVa.</p>
<p>I believe it. You better hold off the next one for a few more months-I’ve been dreaming of making a trip out to Cali for a while, and am making plans to go out there for my 21st next spring. I’d be pretty bummed if an earthquake got in the way of that.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the quakes. People there will often treat them light-heartedly, eg, giving a round of applause following a roller or two. There’s way too much hype in the East Coast press about CA quakes. Go visit. And when you’re there, check out Stanford and Cal. It will bring you more perspective in judging what you’ve got in Chapel Hill…and in interacting with/responding to some of the cheerleading that goes on on CC. :)</p>
<p>Haha sounds good, I’ll be sure to pay those schools a visit. Always good to be able to have more perspective; many people on these boards (myself included) are all too eager to downplay the reputations of schools that we have never even visited.</p>
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<p>I haven’t decided yet. Truthfully, there are places I would like to visit all over the state. I’m a huge “Entourage” fan, so I feel like LA is a must. I’ve also heard great things about San Diego, and I’m a huge beach fan, so I’m hoping to check out Huntington Beach. I feel like San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge are places that every American should see if they are able to, so I would like to get up there as well. Finally, a movie I watched earlier this year (“Humboldt County”) made me really want to get up to NorCal to see what that was like. </p>
<p>I’ll have to see what my financial situation is looking like towards the end of the year. As I’m still a poor college student I’ll probably only have the time and money to check out SoCal initially. Plus, I feel like LA and San Diego would be more accommodating to a 21st birthday-style celebration, while I think SFO and Humboldt would be more suited for a later visit.</p>
<p>Yes. The beaches are much better in So Cal… and the “Entourage” environment is much better in So Cal.</p>
<p>No comparison.</p>
<p>I’m a huge “Entourage” fan too. Great show.</p>
<p>And if you go to UNC, your school is an excellent school.</p>
<p>“Haha sounds good, I’ll be sure to pay those schools a visit. Always good to be able to have more perspective; many people on these boards (myself included) are all too eager to downplay the reputations of schools that we have never even visited.”</p>