Born in Texas, high school educated in Georgia, but college educated in Alabama. Cory Robinson passed up Georgia's HOPE scholarship to study at Jacksonville State University.
" Me and my dad come down and I kinda fell in love with the campus," said the third year student " I really wanted make new connections. JSU has a big time feeling in a small setting."
Robinson is not alone. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, in 2008, it's most recent accounting, 2,510 Alabama high school seniors left the state to go to college, but 8,065 came from out of state to study in the state. It's a net or "brain gain" of 5,555. Only 6 states did better.
"Traditionally, the northeast is the place students want to go to college. Now, we're seeing the southeast become a hotbed for students going to college," said Andy Green, Director of Enrollment Management "Great weather and high profile sports may play some role."
For years, private colleges like Samford University and Tuskegee University have had more than 60% of their incoming freshman arrive from out of state. Nowadays, public schools like Auburn University and the University of Alabama are experiencing growth where out of state freshman are about 45% --and growing. @
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"One of the reasons is enrollment caps. For instance, California, there are great number of students from California attending," said Green
Also, public schools are allowed to offer in-state tuition to students who live just on the other side of the state line. Most of Jacksonville State's out of state students are from Georgia, in particular, west Georgia.
Now, the task is trying to get those bright minds to call Alabama home after graduation.
" The Huntsville- Decatur area is nice, but my roots run deep in Texas," said Robinson " I got to go home."
