<p>New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are projected to have significant dips while states such as Texas, Florida and Arizona are slated for growth.</p>
<p>California is in a universe of its own. The "College Door" report estimates that the number of California students graduating from high school peaked at 423,615 in 2008. The state projects a slight decrease for 2009 and a nearly 7% decline by 2017.</p>
<p>However, California's population of young people will remain the largest by far -- about double that of Florida and New York -- and will continue to draw recruiters.</p>
<p>That's one reason Colby College, which enrolls half its 1,870 students from New England, sent Streett to California this fall to visit more than 40 schools in two weeks. At a college fair last month at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with representatives of other East Coast colleges, including Middlebury, Mount Holyoke and Bates.</p>
<p>Southern California is a good place to look for ethnic and geographic diversity, Streett told the Gertz-Ressler students, who were mainly Latino and black. "We want that," she said. "That is very attractive to us and that's why we spend a couple weeks out here."</p>
<p>Sounds like a hard sell--trying to get Latino and black CA students to go to a small liberal arts college in Maine that they've probably never heard of. No family support, not being able to come home for many of the holidays...I admire the pluck of Colby.</p>
<p>I wish I could reference this, but I read a long article about the experience of Posse students at Grinnell, which is of course a small liberal arts college in Iowa.
The gist was that Grinnell was a great opportunity for these students, but that most felt out of place, tended to hang with each other and made few other friends at the school. It seemed like a high price to pay for opportunity. Almost all were happy to leave</p>
<p>"We want that," she said. "That is very attractive to us..."
When a college says this, I wonder how much attention they are paying to how well the students will fit in their school. We have a majority of minorities in our state, but very few kids are willing to go out of state to college unless it is to one of the neighboring states and they also have relatives there. Many of the kids are first in their families as well. The family support is a huge issue and even kids accepted at a great Public in another state and only 4 hours away have a difficult time adjusting. Many return after the first year. I would hate to think what might happen if they were clear across the country. I agree with the above post which stated that it seemed like a high price to pay for opportunity. Most of the kids here who do well out of state are from families who encouraged them to look further afield. All in all, this type of procedure looks like a disaster in the making for many of the kids they will recruit.</p>
<p>CA parent with kid in Boston here. I agree with above poster. My son went to Boston due to a good program in his major and a good merit scholarship. The school wants more kids from CA.<br>
BUT this was a kid who was travelled all his life, who has some family in the Northeast, who has parents with enough money to pay for his trips home, who has a cel phone etc.
Even with all that, there are definitely times when he dislikes both the weather and what he perceives as a small mindness among students from New Englad. NOTE that I said what he perceives...no need to flame me on that one.
To take some of the students I know in CA and imagine them at Colby is very difficult.
The culture shock would be almost unbearable.
What this does mean is that students like my son who are more comfortable with travel and distance may be able to attract merit aid from schools outside of CA.
All those posters with divorced parents and step parents who won't pay...this might be an option for you.</p>
<p>Links to the articles that Danas is referring to:</p>
<p>College on the Buddy System
A 'posse' of young Angelenos heads off to school in Iowa, linked by friendship and scholarship help from an unusual foundation.</p>
<p>*An L.A. ‘posse’ passes its Iowa test *
Four years ago, 10 high school grads entered tiny Grinnell College. Amid the cornfields, most of them overcame loneliness, doubt – and the cold.</p>
<p>
[quote]
We want that," she said. "That is very attractive to us..."
When a college says this, I wonder how much attention they are paying to how well the students will fit in their school.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is something to really think about as a prospie. We took our son to visit some schools in another area of the country. 2 of them made me (not my son, because he lived away from before) uncomfortable for various reasons. I was particularly uncomfortable at one school though. They showed their hospitality, and facilities were wonderful. One problem that stuck out for me was Thanksgiving. Most of the students from this private school are instate. My son would need to fly home. The school runs on a trimester system and there are finals that are scheduled the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. This means that my son might need to fly home Wed. night, or on Thanksgiving Day (unless professors were willing to reschedule with him). There are too many schools out there, so I feel that our family does not need to feel the stress of this. We are a close family, and we would like our son home for Thanksgiving, minus the last minute travel stress and rush. It would be bad enough to fly home around that time anyway. We don't need that added stress. Oh, and less of an issue, but still is that there are no travel arrangements. Since nearly nobody flies home, the kiddo who does needs to get a limo, cab, or find arrangements on their own. We visited another small school, where most kids also don't fly home, but they make some arrangements. One can pay a small fee for the campus police to drive and pick up from the airport. I found that to be a very nice solution, and much more welcoming to those from further away.</p>
<p>Perhaps these colleges would do better to look for kids like these:
"Engineering is one of the more competitive majors at Cal Poly. The number of College of Engineering applicants increased by 14.1 percent this year, for a total of 7,791. We had 400 engineering applicants each with a perfect 4.0 GPA turned away for admission this fall, Cal</a> Poly</p>
<p>[“We had 400 engineering applicants – each with a perfect 4.0 GPA – turned away for admission this fall,” Cal Poly]</p>
<p>Amazing to turn away these kinds of kids in-state.</p>
<p>New England is facing population decline. We need the kids coming into MA with some number of them staying after college to keep the population up. The costs of living in New England make it uncompetitive for many industries. In NH, we face a graying of the population as 20-30 year-olds move out of state for jobs and a lower cost of living.</p>
<p>On the cultural differences between CA and ME, ME can get pretty cold too.</p>
<p>CA students who are interested in a public school and wanting to stay a bit closer to home might consider one of the 140 member institutions of the Western Undergraduate Exchange (15 western states). OOS students are charged 150% of the in-state tuition. WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs</p>