Degree in entrepreneurship lures many
By James Hannah
Associated Press
DAYTON, Ohio — The job insecurity that has settled over the nation during the past few years has made the idea of self-employment more appealing to college students. And so a growing number of colleges and universities are offering courses and even degree programs in entrepreneurship to prepare young people for the challenges of working for themselves.
Associated Press
"People realize that rather than get a job, I've got to make a job," said Erik Pages, policy director for the Washington, D.C.-based National Commission on Entrepreneurship.
University of Dayton student Reina Hayes shows water bottles with the logos of her school, right, and her family's martial-arts business. Hayes and five other students formed the UD Bottling Co., which sold the bottles on the Ohio campus as part of their entrepreneur program.
In the 1980s, only a handful of business schools offered entrepreneurship programs, Pages said. At least 550 colleges now offer classes in entrepreneurship, with 49 offering it as a degree program, he said.
The University of Dayton began offering entrepreneurship as a major in 1999 and had 10 students.
There are 83 students in the program this school year.
Reina Hayes, a sophomore at Dayton, said, "when I looked at different kinds of majors, none of them seemed to fit what I wanted to do until I looked at entrepreneurship.
"I didn't even know it was a major."
Students in the program start their own companies as sophomores with $3,000 in seed money from the school. After a year, the businesses are liquidated, with any profits donated to charity.
As they start their businesses, students take classes in finance, marketing, how to create new ventures and how to write a business plan.
Ideas for companies must first be approved by the students' professor, who evaluates the businesses' chances of success. However, grades are based on business plans and team interaction, not the success, failure or profits of the business.
Hayes and five other students formed the UD Bottling Co., which sells 32-ounce unbreakable water bottles designed for rigorous activity such as mountain climbing. The bottles cost the student entrepreneurs $5.46 and sell for $10.
Hayes said the company's inventory of 300 bottles sold quickly and there are plans to order up to 200 more. She said the experience has helped her learn how to write a business plan, motivate employees and resolve conflicts.
Pages said entrepreneurship becomes more popular in a weak economy, when laid-off workers can't find jobs at existing companies. But it is also attractive in better times — people know they can fail at a new business and still recover, he said.
Entrepreneurship programs are no longer limited to business schools.
"We're seeing it in engineering, life sciences, liberal arts," said Tony Mendes, director of college initiatives for the Kansas City, Mo.-based Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. "A lot of entrepreneurship students are not business majors."
Mendes said students in many majors aren't willing to settle for working for large institutional companies. "They want the option of creating their own destiny," he said.
