A recent report looks at the reasons why students choose to go out of state for college. The Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative surveyed 12-hundred high school seniors who planned on going to a four-year college. Overall, there were four main factors students considered: cost, location, academic reputation and social environment. Collaborative Director Meg Bates says they asked students leaving the state what would get them to stay in Illinois.
“We saw that the top three things that they noted that would encourage them to stay were lower tuition, better quality of colleges, and more financial aid. Those are the levers for change in this out-migration issue.”
Bates says “leavers” are also more likely to look at a school’s social environment and athletics, while students staying in-state put the most emphasis on cost and the opinion of family and friends.
***Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services***
