Did your son go in state or out of state

I have kept an eye on the in state vs. out of state issue in my state (SC) for several years now.  Every year, 90-95% of kids from SC end up playing college ball in SC.  My guess is that this is due to several things: (1) baseball scholarships are small and out of state tuition is high, (2) there are a lot of D1, D2, and JUCO schools in this state, and  (3) there is not a ton of high level D1 talent in this state.  

playball2011 posted:

 

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For those w older college players or former players did u find it expensive to travel to games? Should we budget more than we did for travel ball or only go to a few games we know they r playing in ?

Yes, it was expensive but frankly we didn't care.  We knew this was a special time in our son's life and we were going to try to make the games as best we could while juggling everything else in our lives.  We still got to see his younger brothers high school games as well.  We realized we couldn't go to every weekend series so we'd pick what made sense for us logistically.  His home games were 8 hours away and we'd typically go to most of them.  We'd drive on Friday, as I would take a vacation day.  Usually, we would end up flying to at least one series a year in the Northeast for conference games as I'd use my airline points for flight and hotels.   Don't laugh as I got to know many West Coasters who flew to the East Coast every weekend to see their son's  team play.

Enjoy! 

Out of state, we're Metro-Atlanta and have lots of options within 3-6 hours drive. While there are many colleges close, he wasnt pursued by most. Son chose SC school about 2 hours from our driveway. New coach and a school with great baseball tradition and i just bought home season tix yesterday and plan to get to at least 3-5 away game series. We are fortunate, son got a great offer and OOP is similar to in-state. Pretty excited.

Mine is in state, 20 minutes from home- D1. Not a power 5, but very good baseball. Got to regional championship last year.

finances were a part and being close to home was a part. Original recruiting time frame, was going to be a walk on at current college. Had same type of offer from 4 other schools, 2 of which were out of state. Those got shot down quick due to finances. Other 2 were turned down because of close to home and better baseball with similar academics. Even though NLI, got the most attention from these coaches.

2nd recruiting time frame, Spring of senior year, when he hit some magic numbers for RHP. Was a 3 week whirlwind, NLI Offers from several colleges. Some very far away from home, a couple in state and one out of state but less than 2 hours from home. For that one with athletic, grant in aid, and academic scholarships. 3 ended up be basically the same financially 1 very far away, 1 in neighboring state and the local in state college he originally committed too. For him then it was about the love the coaches had shown even when he wasn't deemed worthy of NLI.

Ours is in state.  2 1/2 hours from home.  He stayed in Texas to hunt and fish around baseball schedule.  Ha.  

My son is an in-state freshman (DIII). I was prepared to send him to a private college, but he got the most love from in-state and that's where he chose. Finances were not a big factor in the decision, but the savings (compared to his private options) is significant. His school is a 2.5 hour drive from home, and away games are all within driving distance for us if he makes the travel squad.

Roster at son's school is 1/2 - 2/3 in-state. For many of the out-of-state kids, this school is not much more expensive than in-state alternatives in their home states.

One thing I've noticed after watching local kids go through the process for a few years; it's not unusual to go to an out-of-state school, but then transfer to in-state after freshman year. I think that's due to unmet expectations around playing time for the most part.

Out of state. Ten hours away. Had some really good offers from three different in-state DI programs. We told the kid forget money, travel, etc. Choose the place where you feel at home. So that's what he did. 

That said he's in the BG10 and we have eight of the schools within a few hours drive of us.  So there will be plenty of opportunity to see him play. 

playball2011 posted:

curious where your sons went to play baseball at next level. We tell players to make list of schools they r interested in then get in front of coaches.

I 'll start. Some good baseball schools in our state, son is at mid level D1 (in State) a few hours away.  Wish he were a little closer so we could hit all home games , oh well.  He visited one out of state school a few states away, but it didn't have the "college feel" he was looking for. 

If your son is in state how much did finances play in that decision? Son has teammates from all over the country and its expensive for them to fly home or parents to visit. Hope their parents can get to a few games. dont think they made it to parent weekend or any fall games. 

For those w older college players or former players did u find it expensive to travel to games? Should we budget more than we did for travel ball or only go to a few games we know they r playing in ?

Son went JuCo (in-state) but was 250 miles from home.  Was fortunate that he received a state grant that covered 90% of his tuition.  The only real expenses we had after that was books and living expenses.

He then transferred to an out-of-state D2 university.  Was offered and accepted a nice scholarship.  A local in-state D3 was also very interested in him.  Ended up turning that down as they didn't have the study program he wanted to pursue.  Looking back it might have been cheaper to go to the D3 even though there wouldn't have been any athletic scholarship money.

Interesting side note - the JuCo had more out-of-state players than the D2 did.

As for the travel expenses, it depends on how often you plan to attend games.  We planned on going once a month.  When he was at JuCo we would stay at the apartment we rented for him - it cut our costs tremendously.  When he attended the D2 we stayed in a local hotel - fortunately my wife works for a hotel chain and we could usually get a room at the employee rate (if available).  There were times some of the away games were closer than the home games for both JuCo and the D2 - we made every effort to go those games.  His D2 made it to the conference tournament and the site of the finals was only 3 hours away - fortunately they made it to the finals (on a Saturday) so I was able to drive down and watch the game (they won so it made it worthwhile), and drive back the same day.  Wasn't missing that one.

The D2 made a great effort to broadcast most home games via the web.  The video/audio wasn't great but at least we could watch the game if we could not be there.  We were able to interact with the commentator via text.  It was fun.

I do lament missing the JuCo regional playoffs and the D2 regionals, but it was just too far and we simply did not have the funds.

I agree with Fenway - this is special time in your son's life and it is well worth it to be and experience it with him.

Son went out of state.  He really wanted to play in the ACC and was fortunate enough to get that opportunity.  From a finances perspective, every opportunity he had was kind of in the same ballpark, but still high tuition for out of state.  Fortunately was offered a solid scholarship which brought it in line with our in state schools tuition if he didn't play baseball.  So between what his baseball is paying and what my wife and I are paying, he's got a 100% scholarship!  We'll have to see how the travel to games goes.  Being freshman parents, still trying to get the lay of the land and how much travel is feasible and affordable.  The 6 hour drive for home games is not overly exciting but then again, it's still within reach! 

CH10Dad posted:

Son went out of state.  He really wanted to play in the ACC and was fortunate enough to get that opportunity.  From a finances perspective, every opportunity he had was kind of in the same ballpark, but still high tuition for out of state.  Fortunately was offered a solid scholarship which brought it in line with our in state schools tuition if he didn't play baseball.  So between what his baseball is paying and what my wife and I are paying, he's got a 100% scholarship!  We'll have to see how the travel to games goes.  Being freshman parents, still trying to get the lay of the land and how much travel is feasible and affordable.  The 6 hour drive for home games is not overly exciting but then again, it's still within reach! 

NOW that is funny!

my three boys  will have a 100% scholarship too!  but I may not retire till I'm 98. 

Seriously, we live in western PA, and it seems as if most of our high level- D1 players- end up going out of state.  We don't have a lot of options in state- and many of the kids (understandably)  want to play south- my son included.      Ironically, our in state tuitions are pretty high, so out of state tuition in many cases really doesn't sting that bad, although selfishly, I'd really have enjoyed it if he'd decided to stay local so we could see all the home games. 

PA as well where the in-state tuition threshold is very high.  Daughter went to Univ. of Nebraska a few years ago where out-of-state tuition was the same price as Penn State in-state!

CH10- sent you a PM

Out of State.  Very limited D1 Baseball opportunities in state here.  Son ended up at one of the "nearest" Power 5 opportunities (still 7 hours away!).  As it is still in a neighboring state, the school had academic scholarships targeted specifically at students from our state.  That, coupled with Baseball money, made it a very attractive opportunity.

Wife and I have already been out a couple of times for football games, and have targeted a few spring weekend series.  As parents of a Fr Pitcher, we realize his main opportunities to get on the field will probably come during midweek games (with little or no advanced notice).  I can see a few 5AM Tuesday road trips in my future.  Honestly, I'm looking forward to it!

I'm trying to plan ahead...  2018's target school locations are mirroring business opportunities I'm targeting... If kid is successful with his journey I will have justified a way to see a lot more baseball.  Win-Win

Son is at an in-state (VA) D1 but did not dismiss going out of state.  This opportunity made sense and so he took it.  Could have gone just about anywhere academically.  Current school is a good mix of academics & baseball.  

Just took a look at his roster & it is made up of over 50% out of state with the bulk of those coming from PA.

2015 ended up staying in state. The net he cast, wasn't narrow either.He used to joke about the number of kids from Town we live in that never go out of state for college.

As it turned out the  3 firm D1 offers that he had at time of his decision were all in state. He is attending the one which is in the middle distance wise, costs the most by far of the three, but is a top academic school. (Not to mention he likes the coaches and style of play).

I like to think the travel $$ (e.g on flights home) that he is saving by going to school 30-35 minutes away, I can use for gas and hotels to go on road trips. Though it will change next year, he is the only one from our state on roster.

From before we started considering where to play I had talks with my kids about going "away" to college growing into self sufficient, disciplined adults. My daughter played 1,000 miles from home. My son played 700 miles from home. Paying out of state tuition was ok. Both were on 75% rides. I had saved a significant amount of money starting from the week each was born. I didn't come close to spending it all. In the first semester my son didn't get the disciplined part. I warmed him if he blew the academic ride (50%) he was on his way home. The scare woke him up. He had way too much fun the first semester.

My daughter did notice I was a more frequent visitor to Florida in February and March than later in the season. The airfare was inexpensive with the right advance payment. I used my frequent flyer miles to see my son play in the Midwest. For both I attended most home series and travel ease accessible away series. They're five years apart in age. There was never overlap.

My daughter's school was not on her radar screen. She did have the conference targeted. Her school was one of the geographical outliers in the conference. My son had the conference and the school as one of his top ten.

in the who would have thunk it category: One set of parents of a teammate of my son were friends when we lived 2,500 miles away. The mother and daughter were in he same Mommy and Me class as my ex and daughter.

9 hours away!! out of state D2 in SC.  Seems to be happy with his decision - loves the campus, the weather, and the baseball program.  Connection with summer program has started a small pipeline within the past couple years.  Would have loved for him to stay in state but just didn't work out that way.  We (or at least I) will try to make at least one series a month - partly because I am going through withdrawal.. j/k.  Once basketball season is over, they move the webcam outside and stream home games so that will help a lot.

Out of state. 475 miles away. Air service hard to use so driving is route to see him. Because of my job, will see few games until late in the season. Thank goodness for SEC Network.

Had many opportunities closer to home and some real close.  Money-wise as far as school expenses, they were all pretty much equal. In-State---Out-of-State but his life, his dream, his choice.  He had, and has, no qualms about being so far away.  Ask me in 4-5 years and I can tell you how it turned out for him and us.

"For those w older college players or former players did u find it expensive to travel to games? Should we budget more than we did for travel ball or only go to a few games we know they r playing in ?"

We really didn't want to miss keewartson's first collegiate start, which happened to be his first game his freshman year 1000 miles away.  So, we sucked it up and flew.   Rental car, 3 nights hotel (+2 more due to ice storm), plus food, and entertainment for those extra 2 days, well, it was "priceless".  lol   So glad we took the opportunity to go.

We live driving distance to the school (in-state) so we make all the home games.  Personally, we try to make all the away games too, and I make "mini-vacations" out of the weekends away:  try to visit a historical site when they aren't playing and eat at a good Tripadvisor rated restaurant, or at least some good barbecue.   We do miss midweek, over 4 hour's worth of travel, games.  Last year we missed one mid-week game (his brother made the game, though), and one weekend away series.   We will budget to fly once a year, if it is necessary.

You only get this chance once (a 3-5 year period) to see you kid play collegiate ball.   We are trying to make the most of it.

+1 RedFish.  Our son is 489 miles and 7.5 hours away.  The distance is difficult, but the SEC network is gonna help a lot.  The school was son's dream.  He walked away from a couple very good offers in state, one that would have cost me $0 OOP expense.  Oh well, I tell him all the time he better work his butt off on the field and in the classroom.

Unfortunately, he will miss his freshman season due to injury.  I will still make a few trips to watch games and support the other guys that we have met and gotten to know pretty well.  A LOT of freshman will be playing as we lost 7 of 8 position guys from last year.  This year may be kind of tough because of that.

Our son had several in state and out of state offers.  Living where we do, we have many ACC/SEC schools within easy driving distance.  He chose one out of state about 3 - 3.5 hr drive away.  Had an offer from a good mid D1 about 15 minutes from driveway.  No chance in hell he was going to stay that close to home (his words).  He'll be at a great D1 baseball school and got a great offer and with Academic Common Market, he'll pay in state tuition and be at nearly a full ride on the athletic side with little OOP from us.

Our approach was simple.  As his offers came in, I normalized the data so we could compare apples to apples ( $ vs %, what portion was HOPE, in-state, out of state, etc., etc.) so that we could determine two things.  Exactly what was the value of the athletic scholarship in dollars and exactly what our OOP cost would be.  I never shared those numbers with him, we just told him that if there was a school that we couldn't afford, we'd rule it out, plain and simple.  Our logic was that we wanted him to choose the right place that he wanted to be for baseball and academics that we could afford without any other influences.

In state twice(CA). Really never had anything to do with money, just the right fit, at least we thought. 

Freshman year we/I attended 40+ games. Home games 3 hour drive. Parked our RV at local campground, $175.00 weekly(much cheaper then hotel). Felt very much like a mini vacation. Happy to say that I was at all but 1 of his 14 appearences.

Red shirt sophomore year....

This year, he transferred to State school 20 minutes from our home. Now we get to see/feed him quite often and love it. Try to have his roomies over for dinner regularly. Attended most of his fall games and can't wait for the season Feb 5.

Go to as many games as you can and enjoy. 

6.5 -7 hours away, out of state at a private university.  Passed up many opportunities between here and there as well as several that were quite a bit further away.  He focused on the right school for him with distance a far secondary consideration.

Out of state; 5 hours by corporate jet (aka Southwest Airlines). Ultimately it was cheaper because of the cost of living differential between California and Texas. He picked the right school; great education, outstanding baseball experience and it introduced him to life outside California where he could live a comfortable "normal" life. Virtually all his buddies that stayed in California are now living with their parents or are so broke that that they have no life.

Narrowing down to two choices, instate SEC UF with bright futures and baseball $$ was 100%. 5 hours from home.

Out of state, ACC Clemson, out of state tuition and 12 hours away by car, he chose to attend after a very good second offer to get him to campus and not sign pro ball. But that was before the 25% rule.

We missed many games due to distance as it was very expensive to go for a weekend but our  school expenses were low.  Work was the problem as I had to put in for vacations. We saved our time for end of season for ACC tourney, regionals and super regionals and a trip to Omaha. The ACC was in Jacksonville so and they came to Miami and FSU and that helped make the decision. Our trip money was more than actual balance out of tuition not covered and son's education will be debt free when he leaves

I think that he made the right choice for him, not us.  His main reason was to work with the pitching coach who is now the Gator HC, talk about irony. But understand that it is important for players to have support, with familiar faces in the stands, so that should be a consideration. Son struggled a bit and I think that  with us being there might have been the difference maker at times.  The only good part was that at that time, many players on the team were from out of state, from all over the country, so that made the team more of a family than teammates.  You cant go home on the weekends.

For those who are top prospects coming out of HS and going to college inquire about the program helping them to finish their degree.  The ML college scholarship doesnt offer juniors much and then there is 20% tax taken right out of the amount and you do have to lay out money before the team pays.   This is very important.  

JMO

California in-state JC and then in-state State school.  JC was actually further away than the State school (5-6 hr drive vs 3-4 hr drive).  After JC, most interest was coming from out of state and it looked like that would be the direction until very late in the process.   I saw balanced pros and cons to both for him.  He saw a bigger challenge and leaped.

Had he gone to any of the out-of-state schools, we likely would only have been able to make a trip or two.  Instead, now most of his games are within a 4-5 hour drive so we could pick and choose from almost any weekend during the season.  He knows that we will come to some and it won't matter if he is on the field or not.  We got to catch a few fall games and now have a team to pull for.

We both work and I still coach so we will have our limits but very fortunate to be close enough that we will likely attend several games.  I think we made three or four trips last year for JC games.

We've been lucky enough so far to have family or friends that live in most places we go so expense is kept in check that way.  One thing we didn't pay enough attention to when doing son's cost equation was how much higher rent and cost of living is in certain big cities.

Both boys ended up out of state at the same school which was expensive for year one but is now quite cheap. They both received in state tuition starting sophomore year. That with scholarship and stipend cover a very large amount of total cost. We were very lucky that Salt Lake is a cheap city to live in rent wise and gas is under $2.00 a gallon.

Travel getting there is brutal, drive time is 12 hours, luckily they play a few series Cali and 11 games in Arizona. We will also be able to catch 16 games or so on the Pac-12 network. Working overtime as we speak to pay for all the travel but well worth it.  

We had all 3 out of state. We were in NH - not a tremendous amount of in state schools to choose from especially ones with the academic profile my 2 older children wanted (and ones that were further south than us).  NH in state has high tuition costs... The primary in state school (UNH) has only club baseball, while their related schools (Keene State and Plymouth State) are D3 schools, but didn't offer what my older kids wanted/needed. The D1 school (Dartmouth) just didn't interest the older two. The D2 options (Southern NH and Franklin Pierce), while competitive on the baseball field weren't "as interested" in local talent. I'd say their recruiting methods were "blanket" for local kids, but more directed at out of state players.  That is - if you're interested locally, come on in we'll give you a couple of bucks, but you have to make the team, etc.  There's probably quite a few that are helping the baseball coach make his budget... There are exceptions for the "exceptional player" (mine didn't fit that category).

When they were choosing their schools to apply to, we told them all to pick the school they wanted, get in, and then we'd figure out the rest.  Each went to a local private Catholic schools (MS & HS), so paying tuition was something we'd been budgeting for a while. Include the $$ one spends on baseball/sports that we paid every year and we had a $$# that we'd pay and beyond that - it'd have to be their own loan.  We did a lot of driving (and a few flights) to visit schools. In the end, no matter "where" you go, if you're getting financial aid there's only "so much" you'd pay anyway.  You have to be happy where you go though, we don't want the BS of doing the process all over again after a year or two (we had friends go through that).

Son #1 - football went about 1 hour south to Tufts... Son #2 went 350 miles south (about 5.5 -> 6 hour drive) to Muhlenberg (PA) for D3 baseball..  Son #3 went 900 miles south (a plane ride) to Belmont Abbey (NC) for D2 baseball.  Tufts/Muhlenberg are > $50K/year, while BAC is about $30K.  Each got grant money, federal financial aid (loans), each college pillaged any savings we had ;-), each had to get their own private student loan (they need "skin in the game").  Son #2 is furthering is education at UNC Chapel Hill Law and we moved to NC to be closer to #2/#3 over this past summer (he's hoping to get in-state tuition next year). I'm now wondering why we didn't do this move 10+ years ago (haha) - think of all the snowstorms we would have missed out on!  But more realistically we wanted to be "close enough" to watch son #2 play, so we stuck it out...

With respect to our travel budget to go watch them... Think about it - you have at most 4 more years to watch your son play the sport he loves. Would you really want to miss the opportunity to see him?  Is it going to cost - sure.  Hotel, meals, drive/fly, team paraphernalia, etc. Can you really put a cost on that? For son #2, driving 350 miles each way in a day was gruelling, but cheaper than drive, hotel, meals, and drive.

Out of state, half way across the country.  Son's academics (very high) and athletic talent (solidly DIII) basically required it, since in our research and his subsequent pursuit of interest from schools he basically didn't have any nearby matches (metro Atlanta). He's very happy with his choice, and we're actually toying with moving closer, since we have family there anyway and we're at a the right age with our other two kids to make it a reasonable proposition now (starting MS/HS next year).

Ours went "in state" --  but to an expensive private school -- and it's about a 6 hour drive from home.   California is  a very big state, though.  So going to school in on part of the start when you live in another  can feel almost like going out of state.  Certainly, there  are some smaller states that would fit end to end between us and him.  He applied to schools in 7 different states.   Got into schools in 4 different states.  He was determined to go anywhere to keep playing baseball.   Final choice came down to Ohio vs.  California.   Fortunately, the best all around fit turned out to be relatively close to home.   Because his grades and test scores were shall we say borderline,  he focussed on schools that stressed holistic evaluation and really, really worked those essays adn and got some strong recommendations from teachers that had witnessed his maturation up close and personal.   That certainly helped. 

Just a thought.

Don't ever change your job, disrupt your family and move because one of your sons (or daughters) went off to play a sport in another state. He did so for a reason, and he more than likely has no plans to move in with you and his family after he graduates, or maybe at some point he will decide not to play anymore.  

These are things that have to be discussed before planning happens.  They have to understand (and you do too), the implications of being far away from his family, girlfriend, HS buddies, etc.  Whether their final decision is around the corner, 5 hours away in the same state, or half way across the country, don't change your life because of sports, because you really don't know how things will work out in a year or two. Do it because you feel the opportunity is better for you and your family overall. 

Your children will survive from being far away, you may not, but they will.

To be clear, we're not considering moving closer to follow our son, we actually delayed moving to the area where he's going to college when he started HS in part to allow him to get all the way through HS before we moved (we already knew the window of opportunity would come back up this year or next due to the school schedules of our other two kids).  We sort of lucked into him choosing a school that will mean he's nearby, if he'd chosen one of the others he was deciding between, we'd still be moving to where we're headed.

He knows we're kicking him out (well, I am, his mom would probably be OK with him hanging around), and he's ready to be on his own. I'm OK with not having to fly to see him play, if it works out that way, though.

Our son went out of state and we'd do it again in a heart beat.  His college was 700 miles away.  We loved our trips to go see him play.  Nowadays, almost all games are broadcast over the Internet so it reduces the guilt over not being there in person for every game.  

My son did both!

Daughter played in another state but only 34 minutes away from us.  She received in state tuition.  We made every game but 3 in the 4 years she played.  That was due to a makeup where the team was rained/snowed out and we had to get back so that we weren't stranded by the snow.  Her team played in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, ... well, you get the point.  I would have to say plan for more than you think it will cost for travel.

Per other money, that depends.  Our daughter was fortunate to have both academic and athletic scholarships.   That left us paying some for her housing.  As the years went past, her scholarships remained the same but tuition increased.  So, we had to pay more.  Still, we didn't have to pay much and she just graduated without any loans etc. so we are so proud and happy. 

JP said he wanted to play baseball "in any state except Texas or a state that touches Texas."

He's Oregon-bound.

2013  is a hour away at OVC school

2014 is a hour and 30 minutes at Juco

2016 is going to Tufts in Boston.... might not make many of those games, but that was the school he wanted.... the school he wanted .... and will play baseball.

2018  15 minutes from the house.. VU   ... but the out of town games are really out of town... not sure what will happen there.

I agree with Fenway..... make as many as possible , nothing is more important right now