A new study found that Texas ranks seventh in the nation for retaining students in-state for college, with 85.25% of the state’s students choosing to stay close to home for higher education.
Of the 51,713 Texas students enrolled in college, 44,131 remained in-state, according to research conducted by the medical school admissions consulting firm Inspira Advantage and reported in a news release.
The study, which analyzed student migration data from the National Center for Education Statistics, found that Utah leads the nation, with 88.64% of students staying in-state, followed by California at 87.52% and Mississippi at 87%.
Michigan and Alabama complete the top five, with retention rates of 85.99% and 85.4%.
At the other end of the spectrum, Vermont had the lowest retention rate, with just 45.4% of students remaining in-state, while Alaska and New Hampshire also ranked near the bottom, with retention rates of 48.66% and 49.87%, respectively.
Arush Chandna of Inspira Advantage noted that these patterns reveal significant regional differences in student decision-making.
“States with high retention rates typically offer strong public university systems with favorable in-state tuition rates that make staying local financially attractive,” Chandna said.
“States with lower retention rates often have smaller populations or are located near educational hubs in neighboring states. Students from these areas might find more diverse program offerings just across state lines.”
Chandna added that understanding these migration trends has broader implications for state education policy, explaining that they can help shape “state education policies, funding models, and enrollment strategies for colleges and universities.”
Texas’s position in the top ten highlights the state’s ability to keep students engaged with its higher education system, which includes numerous public and private institutions offering a variety of academic programs.
This study comes just months after Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation that increased authority over the governance of taxpayer-funded universities in Texas, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Senate Bill 37 ended the practice of shared governance, dissolved faculty councils or senates, and gave boards of regents final authority over senior leadership hires and periodic reviews of general education curricula.