OP, like you I was dying to get out and see a little bit of the world. I was a small town girl. I couldn’t believe that others wanted to stay home. It was the right choice for me.
As an adult I continue to be astonished by the number of kids who stick close to home, kids who could go anywhere. Intellectually I understand it: cost, convenience, family ties. As an adult I even appreciate my old home town better than I did as a kid. But man, I was ready to leave home at eighteen!
FWIW I was talking to a senior this year at my kids’ high school. He was an unusually mature and well spoken guy. When he told me he was staying in town for college he explained that everyone he cared about was here, so why leave. What a different point of view!