Seems like kids from certain states are more likely to spread their wings.
And other states they are more likely to stay instate…
We move so much, I don’t think my kids associate any state as their home state.
We don’t have a home state, just a home country.
Hmmm… My older kid looked OOS and had no interest. She stayed in state and is very happy- which worked out nicely for us financially because now she has money left over for grad school. My younger kid was not staying- no way. Our in state options are not a good fit for her.
It seems that New Jersey’s largest export is 18 year old college freshmen. As Archie Bunker once said “No one wants to live in New Jersey but someone has to”.
Stay in state and what? Not spread their wings? I don’t think that staying in state means students aren’t broadening their horizons. My niece grew up in NYS and attended college here because we have an excellent college system. She spent the money she saved on OOS tuition on frequent trips (including a yearly European vacation). Kids are different. They have to do what’s right for them.
I think some kids are utterly bored in their home areas, while others have found the variety in their larger areas that works for them. Eg, some on CC complain that northeasterners are provincial for not going further. But really, consider just how much is accessible within a few hours, major cities, major recreational opps, anything from laid back to intellectual and the arts, plus the diversity of peoples. Both of mine went OOS but within the region. They spread their wings and didn’t have to travel across the country to do it.
UC Berkeley & UC San Diego are 500 miles apart.
Boston to Wash D.C are only 400 miles apart.
If you have a lower quantity of schools in your home state, then your state tends to have lower quality schools overall as well. Add that to the fact that your state is known for very rude people and extra-corrupt politicians and you have a contingent of people who are chomping at the bit to leave.
As for me personally, I applied to mostly Northeastern schools within a four-hour radius of home, but I ended up at a Southeastern university nine hours away. I’m seeing a new/different part of the country, but got to stay on the East coast. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.
My older son went to McGill University in Montreal: Boston to Montreal 300 miles, got great merit aid too!
We live in West Texas…staying instate with our excellent publics and spreading wings is possible
I can say a high percentage of kids in NC stay in-state. That’s not because they are afraid of spreading their wings - it’s because the state has an excellent and affordable public university system. Some other states have weaker systems, or ones that are much less affordable (PA seems quite pricey). And some state schools appear to be looked upon with disdain by people in that state (Rutgers seems to be one).
Many kids in Virginia also stay instate. Doesn’t mean they aren’t spreading their wings. One of mine went over 300 miles away and was still instate.
My son decided to stay instate because of excellent scholarship opportunities provided by state lottery funds and desirable academic choices in my state. The schools in my state receive quite a few of those exported students from NJ that @TomSrOfBoston describes. And as an aside @lookingforward ,the same opportunities that you describe for staying in the northeast are also available in the southeast.
Virginia also has a very excellent public school system; in fact, I’d say they’re only surpassed by California in that department. North Carolina schools are superb as well.
For my D16, there is one in-state VA public school that offered her major and she didn’t have the 4.0 needed to have a chance at acceptance there. She’s headed OOS.
Considering some states are smaller than the metropolitan area I live in and that my state is large enough to hold several if not a dozen states, I don’t think staying in state indicates failure to spread your wings.
The answer to your question then may include the size of the home state and the number and quality of schools in that state.
Availability of major, merit aid, quality and affordability of schools all play a role.
My kids (grew up in MN) both wanted the experience of living somewhere else in the country during their college years. Both had acceptances close to home (applied to partly in case they changed their mind about going far away). But both went far away.
Many in our town go OOS, but choose nearby schools that have the same type of kid that they attended HS with. Even those in our town who go OOS 10 hours away have very large friend groups consisting only of kids from the same area they grew up in.
Is it the quality of the instate options that keeps kids from certain states to stay within their home state?