Attending college not only opens opportunities for students, it also opens economic opportunities for communities. This point was illustrated in Michigan when the state lost out on a second Amazon headquarters because it did not have enough college graduates. In rural parts of the country that have a limited number of industries, like Appalachia, losing a major industry hits especially hard and the lack of enough college graduates in the area can make it difficult to recruit new industries, especially as many are based on newer technologies.
