By Claire DeRoin —
“If attending college in your hometown isn’t still living at home with your parents, I don’t know what is.”
Statements like this can occasionally be heard around campus, usually tossed around by students from areas outside of the Sioux City metropolitan area. There seems to be a stigma attached to attending college in one’s hometown. Locals attending Morningside often experience negative attitudes and derogatory comments for their decision to stay near home. Contrary to popular belief, not every Sioux City native goes home every week. Sioux City locals have the same opportunity for independence as every other student.
Jen Jauron and Steph Peters from Morningside’s Admissions Office offered up a few statistics on the subject. Ten percent of this year’s freshman class is from Sioux City or South Sioux City, Nebraska. If the nearby towns of Sgt. Bluff, LeMars, Hinton, and Lawton are added in, the number jumps to 18 percent.
Jauron, a Sgt. Bluff native, is a Morningside alum as well as admissions counselor. She originally planned on attending Augustana College in Sioux Falls but switched to Morningside at the last minute. As a local, she understands attending college near home. “Why would you not go to a school just because it’s in your backyard?” she laughs. “If it’s the best school for you, it’s the best school for you.”
Steph Peters, also an admissions counselor, agrees. “Some people do want to stay near home, some people don’t want to. Students know that if they have a good school here, why not take advantage of it?”
Although not from the Sioux City area, Peters has come to understand these touchy subjects.
“You get out of college what you put in to it.” Students from Sioux City don’t always go home as often as out-of-towners perceive, she continues. She gave a few examples of students from the area that only went home on vacations and holidays.
“It’s just hard to stereotype,” Peters says.
There are other students on campus who feel the scrutiny from out-of-towners.
Jordyn Lapierre, a junior elementary education major from Sioux City, knows the ridicule that non-locals give to Sioux City natives. “I have gotten grief for going to college in my hometown, but I look at the positives. I love being from Sioux City and knowing my way around the town.”
Danielle Dahlkoetter is a junior psychology major. “I can see the benefits of going to college in your hometown: close to home, free laundry, easy to keep up with family and friends,” she says. She has none of these luxuries, as her hometown is Grant, Nebraska. Dahlkoetter has a seven hour drive from her home to campus. Does she regret it? Not one bit. “I feel much more independent and sure of myself because I am out of my element here and doing well. If I hadn’t taken the chance of going to college so far away from everything familiar to me, I wouldn’t have been able to see what I am really capable of on my own.”
So is going to college in one’s hometown ever the right choice? Does living near one’s family stifle their chance at independence? As with every decision, negatives come with the positives.
“The negative of being so close to home [is] that it is easier for my parents to check up on me and know what I am doing,” Jordyn says.
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