FAYETTEVILLE -- Sarah Jong has lived in Fayetteville for all of her 17 years. She couldn't resist the chance to live in another city in a different part of the country.
Jong will graduate from Fayetteville High School this week. Rather than attend the major state school next door, she will head to Northwestern University, about a 10-hour drive away in Evanston, Ill.
She still thinks Fayetteville is a great place to grow up and go to school, but she was ready for a change. She applied to Northwestern -- widely regarded as one of the best schools in the nation -- through the early-decision process. She was accepted in mid-December. She already had been admitted to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
"Even if it was just for four years, I knew I needed to give myself new surroundings so I could grow as a person," she said.
Countless high school seniors wrestle with their college choices each year. Their decisions often come down to cost.
Jong isn't getting a scholarship from Northwestern, but a family history there was a factor for her. Her mother went for her undergraduate degree, and her grandfather went for his doctorate. Plus, she said, she really liked the campus.
Fayetteville High School's class of 2018 has seven students going to universities that are among the top 25 in the nation as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, according to Lesli Zeagler, college and career counselor at the school.
Most of Fayetteville High's graduates end up at UA. The state "makes it very hard to go away" for college because of the scholarship money available to high-achieving students, Zeagler said.
The state's Academic Challenge program provides four-year college students in Arkansas up to $14,000 over those four years. The only requirement is a score of 19 on the ACT. Students with at least a 32 on their ACT and a 3.5 grade-point average may apply for the Governor's Distinguished Scholarship, which pays $10,000 per year.
The University of Arkansas' Honors College awards fellowships that provide $70,000 over four years to dozens of the top undergraduate students. National Merit Scholar finalists qualify for the Chancellor's Merit Scholarship, valued at $40,000 over four years.
Zeagler encourages students to pursue the schools they're interested in, but urges them to apply to the University of Arkansas just to see what kind of financial package they are offered.
"There are those who want to leave, to go away and experience something different. That's fine," Zeagler said. "But often those are full-paying students. Columbia, Cornell, Yale, Duke -- they all come with very heavy price tags. You have to have money to go."
Any student looking to attend one of the nation's elite schools must be willing to move far from home.
The drive from Arkansas to Washington University in St. Louis -- the closest of U.S. News & World Report's top 50 national universities -- is anywhere from three to eight hours, depending on where one lives in the state. Only four other schools in the top 50 are within a 10-hour drive of many Arkansas cities.
Most students graduating Springdale's Har-Ber High School want to stay close to home, said Tami Cline, Har-Ber's lead counselor.
"But when you're talking about those kids looking at the elite schools, distance doesn't matter," Cline said. "They're more interested in the education."
Metro on 05/14/2018