For Ball State to reach its out-of-state enrollment percentage goal, it has increased its efforts in recruiting students from New Jersey.
Tom Taylor, vice president for enrollment, marketing and communications, said there are many reasons for focusing in on the Garden State for recruitment efforts, such as reaching the enrollment goal of 15 percent.
"In our last strategic plan we tried to set a goal . . . and [we] really felt that kind of a desirable mix of students would be about 15 percent out-of-state," Taylor said.
Taylor said even though Ball State is mostly an Indiana school, he feels it's important to provide a wide diversity of geographical exposure for the mostly in-state students.
"Often when we talk about diversity . . . we talk about ethnic diversity, but I think it's also important to have geographic diversity," Taylor said.
According to the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities' website, New Jersey is in last place of all 50 states in keeping its students in state for college, which Taylor said is another reason for pursuing students from the state.
"New Jersey is an area where students tend to go out of state," Taylor said. "That means they're open to the idea of coming to Ball State. The trade-off with that is, it's a heavily recruited area by a lot of schools, and so one of the challenges is to really establish yourself in that market."
Of all the on-campus students, graduate and undergraduate, currently enrolled at Ball State, every state in the nation, except for Wyoming and Vermont, is represented by at least one student. Twenty-four students are from New Jersey.
Sophomore theatre and history double major Andrea Redmount is from Scotch Plains, N.J., which is about 45 minutes away from New York City and about an hour and a half from the ocean.
Redmount said some of the reasons for her decision to come to Ball State were its distance from her hometown and its outstanding theatre department. She said she believes the lifestyle in New Jersey may be one of the main reasons for so many kids going out of state for college.
"New Jersey has this ... attitude of, ‘Things need to be moving fast and need to happen now, and it's my turn,'" Redmount said. "It's really fast-paced all the time and it's very egocentric. ... I think that might have something to do with just needing to get out of that fast-paced, constant area."
Redmount also said New Jersey's very high standard of living might also be a reason so many kids go out of state for college.
"New Jersey has a really, really high standard of living," Redmount said. "So, people in Jersey tend to have a lot of money, so they're able to afford to go out of state."
When it comes to Ball State's recent focus on her home state, Redmount said she's interested in the potential of seeing more fellow Jersey kids around campus.
"When I was looking at colleges, I said Ball State and most people were like, ‘What? Where is that? What?'" Redmount said, "It's weird because, you know, there was no recruiting at all. I went out and found Ball State, Ball State did not find me. ... I think it'll be interesting kind of walking around going, ‘Oh, you're from Jersey too!'"
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