By Rebecca Fowler
Staff Writer
Kara McFarlane
KCBY

College is a big step.  It takes maturity and confidence to leave behind one’s childhood and enter a new school surrounded by strangers, crazy professors and a very different environment. 

For students moving out of state next year, the transition from Coppell will be even more drastic than for those heading just a few hours away.

Senior Spayne Avant will be traveling to Central Florida next year, and because the school is so far from Coppell, she will be away from her friends and family for the majority of the year.

“I will have to fly to and from school and probably won’t even be able to come home on holidays,” Avant said.  “I’m not really nervous because my sister lives there, but I really don’t know anyone at the college.”

For students like Avant, not only is the drive—or even flight—long and tiring, but the move is also more permanent.  Out-of-state college students cannot simply pop back home on weekends.  Once they are settled in their dorms, it is oftentimes where they will remain until Thanksgiving break.

Attending universities far from home also prevents college students from seeing their friends and family in Texas on a regular basis.  Goodbyes become more serious and reunions more sweet.

“I’m going to Belmont University in Nashville because it’s one of the few schools I found that offers audio engineering,” senior Grayson Akerly said.  “It’s definitely going to be different being so far from my family and friends, but I think I’ll be OK with it.  I’ll probably just come home on holidays.”

Though traveling across the country for college is scary in many ways, the prospect is very exciting for some.  Senior Chip Zurita will attend the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. next year, and though he has some reservations about being so far away from Texas, he is looking forward to facing a completely new world on his own.

“I’m excited about the whole environment there,” Zurita said.  “I love the mountains and woods in Colorado, but I am a little nervous about the unfamiliar location.  I won’t know the roads or the city very well.”

A drawback to attending out-of-state universities, however, is the tuition.  Public schools’ out-of-state tuition is generally much higher than the in-state cost, and students (and especially their parents) must decide if the expense is worth it.

For example, Texas A&M’s tuition is roughly $5,000 (not including room & board and fees), but for out-of-state students, it is $19,500, according to cgi.money.cnn.com.  A student wishing to attend a public university in Texas could pay around $9,000 (University of Texas in Austin), versus $36,000 at an out-of-state one (University of Michigan).  Coppell students traveling out of Texas can pay thousands of dollars more to attend their desired universities.

“Belmont is a private school, so it doesn’t have a different out-of-state tuition, but we had to think about the cost of all the flights,” Akerly said.  “After visiting, though, it didn’t matter as much.  We’re trying not to make it an issue.”

CHS students have encountered the pros and cons of moving far away after senior year, and many have grasped at the opportunity to gain responsibility, grow up and see what the world is like beyond the gates of Texas.

“Even though I will be unfamiliar with the location, all the other kids there will be in the same situation as me,” Zurita said.  “The school is known for its camaraderie, so hopefully we can all bond.”