New Jersey hopes to keep college students in-state

Admissions strategist Steve Goodman helped two New Jersey students with their college applications this year.

Both were accepted at Rutgers, the state's largest university. Neither will attend.

Instead, Goodman said, they chose prestigious out-of-state research institutions: the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan.

The decisions by his clients fit a long-term trend, say Goodman and New Jersey higher-education authorities.

New Jersey exports more college students than any other state, and its colleges and universities attract relatively few students from elsewhere. Some higher-education advocates say they hope those facts will get attention from a task force appointed by Gov. Christie to make changes in a system he says has not kept pace with other states'.

Several factors influence New Jersey's student migration, experts say. The state is surrounded by cities - New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington - with high-caliber universities. Garden State public institutions have neither the prestige to attract the state's top students nor money to develop it.

What's more, experts say, New Jersey has an identity issue.

"There is a reverse-snobbery," said Cigus Vanni, a counselor at Cherry Hill High School West who is active in the National Association for College Admissions Counseling. "There really is this culture of, 'This is New Jersey. Who wants to be in New Jersey?' "

That bias is difficult to change, though New Jersey schools are on a par with nearby universities such as Villanova and Drexel, and Towson near Baltimore, Vanni said.

New Jersey saw a net loss of 31,464 college students in 2008, more than twice that of any other state, according the National Center for Education Statistics, which tracks enrollment in schools that grant federal financial aid, including county colleges. Of New Jersey residents who enrolled that year, 35 percent went out of state.

Pennsylvania saw a net gain of 13,328 students, with 16.8 percent of its residents attending out-of-state schools.

Some state leaders say they worry about the effect on the workforce, particularly in South Jersey, which has few four-year institutions.

"Our kids end up going to the Philadelphia schools," said Sen. Jim Whelan (D., Atlantic), vice chairman of the Senate Education Committee. "A lot of them don't come back."