#258. Career Choice – Entrepreneurism

Career Choice – Entrepreneurism

Interest in business as a career and entrepreneurship, more specifically, among freshmen college students has risen over time, a recent study released by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation revealed. The study, Trends in Business Interest Among U.S. College Students, bases its findings on date available through the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, which has conducted the CIRP Freshman Survey for 40 years.

Career aspirations among freshmen toward business ownership or proprietorship have risen since the 1970s, peaking most recently in 2005, at 3.6 percent. In 2008, 3.3 percent of students chose “business owner or proprietor” as their preferred career.

“In the current economy, given the increasing availability of entrepreneurship courses on campuses, trends toward outsourcing, and unemployment among youth, we would expect to see rising interest in business ownership…”, commented E.J. Reedy, manager of Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation.

As you know, we are firm believers and supporters of entrepreneurship, especially among our youth. We will continue to keep you posted on our research.

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As a follow-up to last week’s Agurban, “Job creation? Look to Entrepreneurs,” we received information from Carol Webb with USDA Rural Development in East Lansing, MI. Carol asked that we get the following message out to our readers:

Please inform her as well as your readers that USDA has a Business & Industry Guaranteed program that also has ARRA funds. These funds are still available and Rural Development has the B&I program for small and emerging business, Community Facilities as well as the Guaranteed Home loan program.

USDA is able to lend up to $25,000,000 for most businesses. Each state has it’s own individual allocation. USDA Rural Development still has funds available!

For additional information, visit USDA Rural Development.

Thanks, Carol!