I’m from Calimfornia and I want to go to University of Hawaii at Manoa. My whole life is here all my family and friends. I have been at the same school/organization since kindergarten so I’m so ready to get away from it all and gain new experiences but at the same time it’s going to be so hard to leave the people I’ve known my whole life . I’m super close with my family and a lot of my cousins. Also I’m super super close with my nephew’s who are young and they keep telling me not to leave because they will miss me. I feel like if I don’t go I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life but I just don’t want to miss out on thier lives 
Why Hawaii? Why not some place in CA that is far enough so you have to live on campus, but close enough so you can get home for major holidays and occasional important family events?
And of course your nephews will miss you, but have their parents teach them to skype, and you can check in with each other as often as you feel like.