College in Vermont?

Contrary to age old thought about where you might go to college (or where you might send your children), instead of tiers of schools, where you might try to get into a high class institution, but fall back on a state school or local college, people are now thinking geographically.
States where the college age demographic is full to the brim, the university system can be hard to crack into. However, states that are losing populations of students have much to offer.

The most selective private colleges have become phenomenally so. Flagship public campuses are increasingly difficult to penetrate. But there are hidden gems around the nation, higher learning institutions cached in states where population growth is stagnant or dwindling.

Ponder this map (I relish an opportunity to present a map).

Now consider the states, in blue, where the shift in upcoming college age students is dwindling. Universities in those places still have much to offer, and are apparently offering good deals too.

Students who, in less competitive times, would have been shoo-ins for the nation‚’s most elite colleges may want to research which universities have raised their academic profiles. “The University of Oklahoma is a classic example,‚” Mr. Longanecker says. “Many students never used to consider it. Now it has the largest share of National Merit Scholars in the country. There are other just amazing finds. At Montana State University, the students who go there have a heck of a deal. It is a great school, in a beautiful location, with faculty that is unbelievably dedicated, and nonresident tuition is below most private colleges.”

So the college situation in this country is more fluid than you might think. Schools ebb and flow in what they have to offer.