The news is daunting. Ohio has been steadily losing jobs since 2000 and our state ranks 38th out of 50 when it comes to college graduates.
Fix education, Chancellor Fingerhut told a crowd of educators and business people, and the economy will take care of itself.
FINGERHUT: "I'll just tell you this, I've never seen a state that has an excess of talent that doesn't have:a growing economy."
Fingerhut said the key to strengthening the business - education link in Ohio includes training better teachers, providing more opportunities for college internships with local businesses. The current financial crisis, he said - as bad as it is - could provide an opportunity for Ohio schools by keeping young people closer to home to study.
CSU President Michael Schwartz said, the state's public colleges and universities should promote the strengths of their arts and technology programs together as a combined educational system.
SCHWARTZ: "Now think about this, let's suppose, beyond the arts, we took all of the computer science and computer engineering programs of all of these institutions --- throw in Case University for good measure -- In terms of the number of people in those fields that could work together and collaborate that effort would be larger than the effort at MIT."
Both men said even with a weak economy, there's enough financial aid available to send any Ohio student to college.
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3