In 2014, California lost 17,196 residents to out-of-state colleges and gained only 4,681 students from other states to attend in-state public colleges, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education.

The motivation for California students to attend college out-of-state is evidently high. Many Granite Bay High School seniors also yearn to follow thousands of their peers by taking their academic pursuits to various states.

Jovan Rangi, a GBHS senior, hopes to get his college education on the east coast where he can have access to better academic and career opportunities.

“I’m looking to study finance in college, and some of the best universities with this major are private schools in the northeast, around New York City, Philadelphia and Boston,” Rangi said.

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Rangi also said that he expects to have more opportunities in finding internships and jobs in his career concentration on the east coast than he would have in California.

Kevin Yang is also a GBHS senior whose ideal schools are out-of-state due to their esteemed academics and reputations.

“Most of the top-tier elite schools like the Ivy Leagues are all out of state, besides Stanford, so that’s the main reason why I applied out of state,” Yang said.

The main setbacks students expect to face in the out-of-state route for college are much higher tuitions, living far away from family, worse weather conditions and expensive rates to travel back home.

“I’m going to South Carolina, so that’s all the way across the country,” GBHS senior Audrey Foster said. “It’s going to be hard being away from everyone for four or five months at a time because I can’t come home.”

Yang said that tuition was the biggest downside to out-of-state college, and that he doesn’t expect any scholarship, need-based or otherwise, to be substantial enough to prevent enormous debt.

“The biggest thing holding me back right now is the cost,” Yang said. “You’re not really getting any money because you have enough to pay, but once you pay you don’t have any money left to use.”

GBHS senior Genna Kozlowski, on the other hand, says that out-of-state schools with scholarships will end up being less costly than some California schools for her.

Some students want to leave California looking for change and new experiences in new places, as well as to evade the competitiveness of many California schools.

“(Going out-of-state) gives me the opportunity to live in and explore another area of the U.S., and a lot of in-state schools are super impacted right now,” Kozlowski said.

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Sometimes students’ families also inspired the move for students.

“I never thought of leaving California for college until my brother did,” Kozlowski said. “He goes to college in South Carolina – Clemson University – and by him going to the South, I realized what a cool experience it could be going to another state for college.”

Yang said that his parents played a big role in helping him choose to pursue Ivy Leagues and non-California schools.

“They were the ones who pushed me to apply to out-of-state colleges like Ivy Leagues,” Yang said. Originally, I wasn’t planning on doing that because I knew it would be very expensive, but they thought it’d be worthwhile to try to get in,” Yang said.

Some students’ parents play a lesser role in the decision process.

“I will end up making the decision myself, and (my parents) said they would support me no matter what,” Rangi said.

No matter why the decision is made, for many seniors, going out-of-state is an opportunity to gain more diverse and exciting life experience.

“I feel like I’ve seen a lot of California,” Foster said. “So I just want a new experience and adventure.”