<p>I began to aspreadsheet of the schools my son is interested in visiting. One of them (Canisius in Buffalo, NY) has only 8% of their students from out of state. Several others have only about 22% out of state.</p>
<p>Should we be concerned that these are suitcase schools? Is there a website where we can find out this kind of information?</p>
<p>Remember the size of the state you're looking at. It's a lot more difficult for a school in California to have out-of-state students versus a school in Rhode Island or Delaware.</p>
<p>Canisius simply isn't well known much outside the Buffalo area, so it's no surprise that few people outside of NY attend there. Whether that makes it a suitcase school where everyone goes home on weekends -- well, that doesn't flow from the first.</p>
<p>You might want to look at the percentage of freshmen who live on campus. This will give you an idea if there is a large commuter population at the school.
Maybe see if you can e-mail some students through the admissions office, as well.</p>
<p>Check out the schools on the weekends-ones that seem empty compared to those with a lot of activity going on. Many state schools cater to their state students, this doesn't mean those who live close choose to leave campus. Online you could check school calendars and group events.</p>
<p>Checking the percentage of freshman who live on campus is a good thought. But in small northeastern states almost all the students are "going to school close to home" so campus' can still empty out on weekends. I don't know anything about Canasius specifically, but if you'd asked about the University of Rhode Island ....</p>
<p>Also, if checking out schools in person on weekends, keep in mind the lifestyle e.g. sleeping patterns of college students. Some friends took their senior S on a college visit to a state u. and came home complaining that the campus was deserted and they wouldn't want their kid to go to a school that cleared out on weekends.....the tour was on a Saturday morning at 9:00.<br>
Based on my college son and his friends, I can safely say that the dorms could have been bursting with students but you would not see them out strolling the campus at 9:00 on a Sat.</p>
<p>LOL, PackMom, so true!!</p>
<p>I don't think the percentage of in-state v. out-of-state is a reliable indicator of whether a school is a "suitcase school." As Pizzagirl points out, the quirks of geography are such that in-state v. out-of-state doesn't necessarily tell you how far students are from home, and on the liveliest campuses even students who live nearby tend to stay on campus on the weekends.</p>
<p>Nor is the percentage of students living on-campus a good indicator of whether it's a "suitcase school." There are plenty of schools where everyone lives in the dorm during the week and many head home on the weekends, and others where by personal preference, tradition, or necessity a large fraction of upperclass students live in off-campus housing; but that doesn't make them "commuters" or necessarily any more likely to go home on weekends, or any less a part of the campus weekend social scene.</p>
<p>I think the only reliable way to gauge this is to visit for yourself and see what's happening on Friday and Saturday nights. Are the dining halls full? Are there lots of concerts, films, lectures, plays, parties, other social and extracurricular events---and are they well attended? How many student organizations are there, and how active do they appear to be? Generally a campus with a rich social and extracurricular life will have a sufficient center of gravity that students will want to stay on campus for the weekends; and conversely, at true "suitcase schools" there aren't enough students on campus on the weekends to support a lot of activity. Talk to current students about it during the visit; I think for the most part they'll be pretty candid.</p>
<p>It's probably difficult to get the data, but I also have a hunch the availability of student parking and/or the percentage of students with cars would be a pretty telling indicator. Lots of cars and lots of student parking usually means either a high percentage of commuters or a large percentage of students who "need" cars to escape (to home or elsewhere) on the weekends. Or both. There are only a few cities in this country where the public transportation is good enough to allow a large fraction of students to commute by bus or train. Our experience in visiting campuses with a lot of weekend activity has been that usually someone (often a parent) will ask about student parking, and the student tour guide's response is typically a quizzical look followed by a quiet explanation that there's not much student parking and most students don't have cars because they don't need them; everything you need is right on campus or nearby, and there's so much to do on campus that you'd rarely have the occasion to leave except for holidays and semester breaks.</p>
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It's a lot more difficult for a school in California to have out-of-state students versus a school in Rhode Island or Delaware.
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<p>Hear, hear. My CSU has only 2% OOS, partly because it's lesser-known and partly because CA is just so darned big and has so many areas to draw from.</p>
<p>Anecdotally, I've always heard that USC empties out on weekends with the local kids going back home, which leaves the kids not from the LA area at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say disadvantage...USC might not be in the nicest area, but there's plenty to do if you're willing to go for a short bus ride.</p>
<p>I mean disadvantage in the sense that the social community isn't there on the weekends. I heard it from people attending USC 20 years ago and I still hear it today from people who are considering it and talking with current students.</p>
<p>I also agree that it may depend largely on the state you are in and how large the school is. Our state is very broad (geographically) so even in-state students can be quite a distance from home. S2 leaves Saturday for an in-state u. that is 4 hours away. His friend across the street will be attending a different in-state u. that is also 4 hours away and that kid's roommate is coming from a town 6 hours away (but still in-state!). So even though these guys are in-state going to public state u's, they definitely won't be packing up to come home most weekends. It's too far and gas costs too much! At a large state school there will always be somebody around on weekends. </p>
<p>By contrast, my other neighbor's D goes to a small private (instate) in a rural (nothing to do there) location 3 hours away. Don't know statistics but am pretty sure it is populated by mostly instate students. I hear the dorms there empty out on Fridays. My friend went to visit her D on a Fri. last Spring and the D was the only girl on her floor for the weekend!</p>