For a UConn chemistry major, the future lies close to home in Connecticut

For many col­lege stu­dents who are also Con­necti­cut res­i­dents, the lofty tax­es and top‑5 cost of liv­ing and doing busi­ness in state are dri­ving them to look else­where for their futures. In fact, Con­necti­cut ranks sec­ond only to Illi­nois, with 49% of res­i­dents say­ing they would leave if they could in a 2014 Gallup Poll. Is this a trend that is going to keep influ­enc­ing the grad­u­ates of Con­necti­cut’s flag­ship uni­ver­si­ty, UConn?

For Jon Moore, 22, a senior chem­istry major at UConn, stay­ing in state after grad­u­a­tion is not out of the ques­tion. In fact, for his field many oppor­tu­ni­ties lie with­in Con­necti­cut’s bor­ders. When asked whether he planned on stay­ing in his home state for the long run, Moore did­n’t hes­i­tate to express his loy­al­ty to the state he has grown up in.

 

 

 

Though poten­tial jobs are wait­ing for Moore in near­er to the New York Met­ro­pol­i­tan area, sup­port­ing him­self in the future may not be easy in the cur­rent Con­necti­cut eco­nom­ic sit­u­a­tion. In fact, Con­necti­cut is one of the worst per­form­ing economies in the Unit­ed States dur­ing recent years. When dis­cussing the econ­o­my Moore echoed one of the many eco­nom­ic con­cerns, but remained opti­mistic about whether the econ­o­my would allow for a future in state.

 

 

One of Moore’s poten­tial jobs — a phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal out­fit, Chemw­erth — is locat­ed in New Haven, Con­necti­cut where he is seri­ous­ly con­sid­er­ing set­tling down for the time being. How­ev­er, Moore has spent much of his life liv­ing in sub­ur­ban and rur­al Con­necti­cut — grow­ing up in Sims­bury and attend­ing col­lege in Storrs Mans­field. He does­n’t see him­self as a city dweller, look­ing to New Haven’s sur­round­ing area to find a new home.

 

 

There is no doubt that any­one grad­u­at­ing col­lege in the near future will face many deci­sions in the months and years fol­low­ing. Moore will be fac­ing many of those choic­es when he receives his diplo­ma in May, but as far as his liv­ing sit­u­a­tion is con­cerned he seems to have made up his mind already.