'Many teens are eager to trade the political polarization ripping apart campuses in New England and New York for the sense of community epitomized by the South’s football Saturdays,' the Wall Street Journal columnists wrote
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High school seniors are flocking to southern universities like Clemson and Alabama over America’s most prestigious colleges in the North, a column in the Wall Street Journal reports.
"A growing number of high-school seniors in the North are making an unexpected choice for college: They are heading to Clemson, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Alabama and other universities in the South," columnists Douglas Belkin and Andrea Fuller wrote.
Belkin and Fuller wrote that although far more students applied to Ivy League schools than in the past 20 years, Clemson and Georgia Institute of Technology "have seen even a bigger spike in interest."
The column explained further that these southern schools boast career opportunities, an alluring Greek fraternity and sorority life, and sports entertainment experience, especially in football.
Former President Donald Trump acknowledges the crowd during halftime of a game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and Clemson Tigers at Williams-Brice Stadium. (Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports)
Furthermore, the columnists note the southern schools’ lower tuition costs and weather have become appealing to high school seniors who are overlooking the country's competitive East Coast universities.
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They cite college counselors in reporting that "many teens are eager to trade the political polarization ripping apart campuses in New England and New York for the sense of community epitomized by the South’s football Saturdays."
Fox News Digital previously reported on Emerson College being forced to lay off staff and make spending cuts due to a projected enrollment decline. The budget woes came after the college was overwhelmed with student protests amid the Gaza conflict.
Emerson was among several colleges across the country rocked by protests on campus.
WSJ columnists Douglas Belkin and Andrea Fuller wrote that southern universities boast career prospects after college, an alluring Greek fraternity and sorority life, and sports entertainment experience, especially in football. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Per the Wall Street Journal column, "The number of Northerners going to Southern public schools went up 84% over the past two decades, and jumped 30% from 2018 to 2022, a Wall Street Journal analysis of the latest available Education Department data found."
For example, the University of Tennessee in Knoxville has attracted more freshmen from the Northeast over the past 20 years. The total freshmen from the Northeast increased to nearly 600 in a class of about 6,800 from around 50 in 2002.
The University of Mississippi, in Oxford, saw an increase from 11 to more than 200 in a class of approximately 4,500 in 2022.
The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa has also seen a spike in incoming first-year students, the column reported further.
High school seniors are flocking to southern universities like Clemson and Alabama over America’s most prestigious colleges in the North, a column in the Wall Street Journal reports. (Izabela Habur/iStock)
"At Alabama, applications were up more than 600% in the same period — about three times as much as bids to attend Harvard," the columnists wrote.
"Southern academic stalwarts, such as Duke, Tulane, Emory and Vanderbilt, have long drawn their share of students from up North, but the recent uptick of students going to the South is fueled by attendance at public universities," the columnists added.
Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.
Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation's Young Leaders Program.
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