Well…cost is exactly the reason why people choose in-state vs out of state publics. It’s double to triple the cost, making it generally not worth the extra money spent. Most employers hire locally or regionally anyway because it’s more cost-effective for an entry-level job with high turnover. Going into high levels of debt to pay for such a college for a higher “ranking” is foolish, since employers are going to hire locally anyway.
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We’ve had this debate before but I’ll state it again for the purpose of correcting the record- “SOME” employers hire locally or regionally. MANY hire nationally. SOME entry level jobs are high turnover. MANY are not. Do you not know ANYONE who has been hired for a job thousands of miles away from the college from which they graduated? If not- you can educate yourself.
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Was about to say what you posted, but you articulated it better than I could. Agree 100%
Also:
Not all people choose in-state vs OOS. Many parents are wiling and able to pay up for an OOS option if it’s a better fit for their student.
In your posts you always assume people have to take on debt to go to something other than their in-state flagship. Many people can comfortably afford the higher cost. There are also people who get substantial need based or merit scholarships making those OOS options cheaper than their in-state flagship.
As for rankings: while they are not the be-all-end-all of college selection and one can always debate about the particular rank of one school vs another, highly ranked colleges are usually highly ranked for a reason, and picking such a school (for the underlying reasons) is not foolish.
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Because for most parents, including myself, it would require high levels of debt. For the few that can pay for out of state tuition, good for them, but there are far cheaper options for the same level of job prospects in choosing an in-state school.
That’s basic economics. There’s little reason for an employer to spend thousands of dollars flying someone to interview for a 40k a year job when a qualified interviewee can be recruited from a nearby university.
Both those comments are applicable to certain industries and roles, and not to others.
I’m not going to turn this into a debate, so this is my last comment on this sub-topic.
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I tend to agree the best “return on investment” opportunities, where you look just at job prospects versus cost of attendance, and holding aside big aid offers (either need or merit), are usually in-state. And that is no small thing for many kids and families.
But other kids/families are not seeing college purely through that ROI sort of lens. Which is also fine as long as they can comfortably afford whatever it is they are seeking.
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What graduates are willing to take a “40K a year job” nowadays, unless they are looking at PhD stipends, or professions in the arts (where a national job search is a given, but you travel to auditions/interviews at your own expense)?
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Or graduating from a T30, applying to med school, and need a job that provides clinical hours. Can you say $18/hr?
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And again that’s on the applicant to search out the opportunity. No employer is “paying to fly someone out for an interview” there.
More broadly, flying to an interview for entry level jobs seems increasingly less of a thing (unless you want to woo top candidates for a highly paid opportunity). My S’s firm seems to do everything on Zoom nowadays.
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Aaah, here is the disconnect.
I’m talking about entry level jobs paying 90K plus. We are clearly discussing two different parts of the labor market. At many large corporations, those 40K jobs are indeed entry level- but many do not require a Bachelor’s degree.
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$40k/year jobs…I’m thinking teaching, social services, arts management, retail/restaurant management, among others.
Exactly. Zoom is the way many out of state people are hired these days. Probably even local people.
My daughter graduated from a school in the PNW. Hired for an accounting firm from Chicago and works remote.
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I realized the other day that when I was taking on a few extra classes as a graduate student teacher in the 1990s, I was being paid a total stipend equivalent after inflation adjustments to about $40,000/year today.
This of course does not suggest I was well-paid back then, but rather that $40,000 is not so much anymore.
There’s a point that many get hung up on in this debate, that opportunities will be the same between schools. They won’t. Different companies recruit at different schools for different reasons. That’s not the issue though. It’s whether or not there will be equivalent opportunities. In most industries there will be.
The OP asked about state flagships. I’m a fan of Iowa State. Apple doesn’t seem to recruit there, and it doesn’t crack the top 10 for employers of Iowa State CS grads on LinkedIn. Apple does recruit at Michigan. That said, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Google all recruit at Iowa State.
Right now, four years in state at ISU is roughly $100k. Michigan out of state is $300k. The question becomes not is Michigan better, but is Iowa State good enough.
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Exactly…and salaries in one locale won’t mean the same thing as another locale. It’s an entry level salary regardless…that’s why employers hire locally and regionally. A 90k salary can easily be for entry level jobs on the east coast, but in a place like Texas, that doesn’t apply. That’s why it’s generally not beneficial to pay $$ for an out of state school for a higher “ranking.”
I agree with much of what you said, but some companies do recruit far away from their location. My son was offered a position on the east coast from a company recruiting at a Cal Poly career fair. They flew him across the country for an interview.
That said, if a student is dead set on an east coast job, they’ll see more east coast companies at the career fairs of east coast schools.
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I call that a rarity, though. Congrats on your son 
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It’s only rare if you don’t understand how the labor market operates.
I have colleagues in Talent Management who work in companies around the country (and the world) who do not recruit for anything besides administrative/facilities management roles at their local universities. If you need nano-technology or robotics or strategy or metallurgy or actuaries-- or even investor relations-- and your local university specializes in elementary ed, allied health and a watered down “business management” program- you are NOT hiring locally. That’s just geography.
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