<p><a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06092/678836-298.stm%5B/url%5D">http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06092/678836-298.stm</a>
<em>sidebar graphics are especially interesting</em></p>
<p>Home and Away: College-bound kids don't stray far from home
69 percent of last year's graduating class in the region chose colleges within 100 miles of Downtown / First of two parts
Sunday, April 02, 2006 By Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</p>
<p>When 2005 Canon-McMillan High graduate Andrew Andronas was selecting a college, his final decision came down to this: Should he play football at a small school -- Waynesburg College -- or be a fan at a large school -- West Virginia University?
Distance from home was never an issue -- he wanted to stay close. Both schools are less than an hour from his home in Canonsburg.</p>
<p>""I think they all say they want to go far away in their junior year," said Sandra Whetsell, guidance counselor at Jefferson-Morgan High School in Greene County. "By the time they're seniors, they'll look at schools much closer."</p>
<p>This is soooo true. When S was younger, all he'd ever say was "I want to go far away." Now that he's at the end of his junior year, he's starting to realize all the ramifications (he's not that independent) and now he's looking at colleges within about 300 miles.</p>
<p>In-state kids know that Penn historically has supported local students....even though this year they seemed to do so less than usual. I know of numerous local applicants that go for Penn early because they think that it is their shot at an Ivy.</p>
<p>The furthest that any of my family's current generation of college students has travelled (from Eastern PA & NJ) is to attend Notre Dame. We had two go through the process this year and even though they looked from the east coast to the mid-west, both stayed within a couple hours of home.</p>
<p>My D looked all over the east coast but found the total change from the home turf that was an important part of her search criteria in NYC. I believed at the time (and still do) that 9/11 had an impact on how far she wanted to be from home - even though she had no fear of going to school in New York. 9/11 took place at the beginning of her junior year just as she was beginning to look at schools. It probably wasn't the deciding factor but I do think that she wanted to know that she could get home if the world went crazy again.</p>
<p>I was pretty proud of myself at the time because I have a bit of a rep for speaking my mind and I kept my fears for her under check and did not try to influence her college choices in a big way. I do remember trying to send subliminal signals when she visited Dartmouth (PLEASE, love it. PLEASE, love it) because of its distance from an urban center.</p>
<p>It should not come as any surprise that students typically attend college within an easy drive to home because, for financial/academic reasons most attend community college or in-state public colleges.</p>
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I do remember trying to send subliminal signals when she visited Dartmouth (PLEASE, love it. PLEASE, love it) because of its distance from an urban center.
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<p>Ellen,</p>
<p>I totally understand how you feel. As person who working at the wtc on 9/11 and having a kid attend school less than a mile away,I did have mixed feelings about her attending school in the city. However, I do take solace in the fact that she is in rural NH (and a 3.5 hour drive from home)</p>
<p>Doesn't suprise me at all. I think though, that kids that move into an area from a different state and do not have relatives living nearby are more likely to go out of state. Just my guess. My husbands family is spread all across the United States - not just his parents and siblings but cousins, Aunts and Uncles. My husbands parents, sisters, brothers, Aunts and Uncles live in New York, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, Idaho, California, Oregon, Kentucky, Florida, Michigan, Virginia. And that's not like two families in each state, that's one family per state with the exception of his parents who moved back to the town my father in law grew up in after retirement and then so did his brother. I don't think this is necessarily a good thing but the model that our kids grow up with is that there are unlimited choices for locations and colleges out of state are normal. I don't mind my kids living out of state for college but I really hope we break the family trend and they come back here afterwards.</p>
<p>most of the students cited "academic reputation" as priority in which institution they chose to enroll in...i find it odd that the most popular prestigious school was the univ of notre dame. after all that is very far and very catholic...is it a pittsburgh/PA thing?</p>