Tax Incentives Aim to Retain Graduates in Connecticut

Legislation stalled this year to provide money for the program.

By Ali­cia Gomez
Dec. 8, 2023
Newslet­ter Course – UConn Jour­nal­ism Department

Con­necti­cut offi­cials have tried to stave off “brain drain,” a wide­spread immi­gra­tion of edu­cat­ed res­i­dents to oth­er states, with an idea called the “Learn Here, Live Here” program.

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“Learn Here, Live Here” is designed to help younger Con­necti­cut res­i­dents buy their first homes. Under the pro­pos­al, any­one who grad­u­at­ed on or after Jan. 1, 2024, from any Con­necti­cut high school, col­lege or cer­tifi­cate pro­gram who makes less than $75,000 a year could receive a tax cred­it of up to $2,500 for a first-time home­buy­er account.

The pro­gram and its $5 mil­lion fund­ing stalled this year in the leg­is­la­ture, however.

So is so-called brain drain still a prob­lem in Connecticut?

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Nor­lin­da Stew­ard, a 2022 Uni­ver­si­ty of Con­necti­cut grad­u­ate who has lived in New Eng­land since she fin­ished her edu­ca­tion, says she does not see her­self leav­ing Connecticut.

“My par­ents are here. I like how close it is to oth­er states – it’s easy to go to oth­er places if I want to. It’s pret­ty. You can be in the city or in the coun­try,” she said.

Although Con­necti­cut’s hous­ing is more expen­sive than oth­er states, Stew­ard says she is will­ing to wait out the hous­ing prices to stay here.

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Abi­gail Young, a 2023 Uni­ver­si­ty of Con­necti­cut grad­u­ate who moved from Con­necti­cut to Mass­a­chu­setts for work, says she is eager to return to Con­necti­cut soon. It is her top state, and she wants to stay in New England.

“The infra­struc­ture is real­ly good com­pared to oth­er states. So … in terms of where our tax mon­ey goes, you know we pay a lot of tax­es, but our roads are good,” Young said.

Edu­ca­tion also is a consideration.

“If I were to ever start a fam­i­ly, the schools here are good, and peo­ple are for the most part pret­ty well edu­cat­ed in Con­necti­cut,” she said.

Young also likes the con­ve­nience of Connecticut’s loca­tion, which has easy access to Boston, Hart­ford, the shore and Rhode Island.

How­ev­er, the traf­fic in Con­necti­cut is a main rea­son she moved to Mass­a­chu­setts to be clos­er to work.

She calls the dri­ve from Mass­a­chu­setts to Con­necti­cut “atro­cious.”

“Any­one who works north of Hart­ford, they will know that dri­ving south to get any­where on 91 is going to be a dis­as­ter, and traf­fic backs up for miles, and traf­fic can be there for … 30 min­utes or more on a good day,” Young said.

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Oth­er states in New Eng­land she might con­sid­er mov­ing to include New Hamp­shire and Ver­mont, for the rur­al atmosphere.

Oth­er recent UConn grad­u­ates have sim­i­lar thoughts.

Accord­ing to the UConn Career Cen­ter, The most com­mon first des­ti­na­tions for UConn grad­u­ates since 2016 are Con­necti­cut (62%), New York (12%) and Mass­a­chu­setts (11.3%).

Most stu­dents stay in New Eng­land states, with the only excep­tions being Flori­da (1.16%) and Cal­i­for­nia (1.37%), with only 1% of recent UConn grad­u­ates choos­ing those as their first destination.