Analysis of Data, cont.d
Oklahomans Staying in Oklahoma
Table 4 shows where the students that plan to stay in Oklahoma are from. About the same number of students come from areas of high population as do smaller cities.
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Ada Ardmore Bartlesville Broken Arrow Cache Catoosa Choctaw Claremore Comanche Corn Cushing Davis Del City Duncan Durrant Edmond Elmore City Glenpool Goodwell Guymon Idabel Jenks Lawton Mangum Meeker Midwest City Moore Muskogee Newalla Noble Norman OKC Owasso Paoli Ponca City Purcell Sand Springs Shawnee Stillwater Texoma Tulsa Washington Weatherford Wilburton Yukon | 2 2 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 1 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 13 24 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 1 19 1 2 1 1 |
31% (62 of 198) of the students are from Oklahoma and plan to stay in Oklahoma after graduation. (Of Oklahomans, 51% plan to stay (62 of 121)). Figure 5.1 shows the primary influence on locational decisions of those 62 students. 41% cite economic opportunities for a reason to live somewhere. 30% rank proximity to family as the main influence. This compares closely to the main reasons of all the students surveyed, though proximity to family is a higher percentage than the general group who ranked it first 22% of the time.
Of those students, their area of study can reveal patterns, as in Table 5. The expected percentage of students from Oklahoma staying in Oklahoma majoring in each area is 31%. Table 5 shows actual percentages derived by dividing the number of majors in each area by 33, the total number of surveys analyzed in each area.
| Area of Study | Number of Majors | Percentage of Majors |
| Business | 12 | 37 % |
| Engineering | 7 | 21 % |
| Humanities | 9 | 27 % |
| Natural Sciences | 11 | 33 % |
| Professional Studies | 14 | 42 % |
| Social Sciences | 9 | 27 % |
| Total | 62 | |
| Expected Percentage | 31 % |
Table 5. Area of Study of Oklahomans Staying in Oklahoma
Table 5 demonstrates that students who are from Oklahoma and plan to stay in Oklahoma tend to major in Professional Studies average (Health and Sports Sciences or Journalism and Mass Communication), 11% above. The second largest number is students majoring in business, 6% above average. A small number are receiving a degree in engineering, 10% below average.
Non-Oklahomans Staying in Oklahoma
Table 6 shows where the non-Oklahoman students that plan to stay in Oklahoma are from. These locations may lend themselves to recruiting "brains" that will stay in Oklahoma.
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CA CO CT FL Germany Honduras IN KS Lithuania MI NC NY Romania Singapore Sweden TX |
1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 |
10% (20 of 198) of students from out of state or out of the country plan to stay in Oklahoma after graduation. (Of all of the non-Oklahomans, 26% of those plan to stay (20 of 77)). Figure 5.2 shows the primary influence on locational decisions of those 20 students. 45% claim economic opportunities as the top reason to live somewhere. 20% rank proximity to family as the main influence. This compares closely to the main reasons of all the students surveyed, though further education is more often a factor in the decision in this case. Of those students, their area of study can reveal patterns. However, 20 students in a small number to analysis and any conclusions drawn from these numbers would be uncertain. Therefore, the breakdown of area of study is not included for this group of students.
Total Students Leaving Oklahoma
59% (116 of 198) of graduating students plan to leave Oklahoma. Figure 6 shows the primary influence on locational decisions of those 116 students. 48% cite economic opportunities as the main reason to live somewhere. 18% rank proximity to family as the paramount influence. This does not compare closely to the main reasons of all the students surveyed; this group chose economic opportunities as the driving reason three times more often than proximity to family. Here, economic opportunities are the reason they are leaving the state. Other reasons are about the same as the larger group of students. Of those students, their area of study can reveal patterns as in Table 7. The expected percentage students leaving Oklahoma majoring in each area is 59%. Table 7 shows actual percentages derived by dividing the number of majors in each area by 33, the total number of surveys analyzed in each area.
| Area of Study | Number of Majors | Percentage of Majors |
| Business | 19 | 58 % |
| Engineering | 24 | 73 % |
| Humanities | 19 | 58 % |
| Natural Sciences | 18 | 55 % |
| Professional Studies | 18 | 55 % |
| Social Sciences | 18 | 55 % |
| Total | 116 | |
| Expected Percentage | 59 % |
Table 7 shows that students leaving Oklahoma tend to be engineering majors. This area is the only one that experiences higher than expected percentages, 73% as compared to the 59% expected. This may be due to the lack of engineering jobs in Oklahoma, heavy recruiting by out-of-state firms, or the perception of a higher job availability out-of-state.
Figure 7, Oklahoma's gross state product by sector (1995), shows equal levels of economic concentration on services, trade, manufacturing, and finance, insurance, and real estate. Many students feel, however, that more high tech industry needs to be brought in. It is difficult to derive that these percentages of economic concentration offer enough engineering jobs, but again, it would be useful to find out how many engineering jobs there actually are in Oklahoma.
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