Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Representatives of Nazareth College and the U.S. Naval Academy work side-by-side at the Pittsburgh National College Fair in February at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Nazareth is a small liberal arts college in Rochester, N.Y. Click photo for larger image.

Mary Buchy of Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, expects by this fall to have sent three of her children off to colleges in South Dakota.

That's unusual. According to the most recent federal data, for 2002, only two of Pennsylvania's 80,000 freshmen headed to the Mount Rushmore State, tying it with North Dakota as the least likely campus destination.

While no magnet for Pennsylvanians, South Dakota fulfills her children's wish for a good education in very different surroundings, said Ms. Buchy. And it's hard to beat the price.

South Dakota last fall cut non-resident public campus tuition by more than 50 percent for applicants from Pennsylvania and other states, hoping to offset a projected decline in South Dakota high school graduates. Even the state's flagship University of South Dakota costs only about $3,800 a year in tuition -- less than half of what a Pennsylvanian would pay at Penn State University's main campus, and $1,100 less than the in-state rate for state-owned universities, such as Slippery Rock or California University of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Buchy is satisfied that her children's education will match what they could get back home.

Her daughter, Kathryn, now 20, was the first to go, enrolling in the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, where she studies engineering. Next came Steven, 24, who transferred from Harrisburg Area Community College to study psychology at the University of South Dakota, where he's a senior. That's where his brother, Matt, 17, plans to enroll this fall.

"My daughter says if they want to climb rocks, they have the Black Hills. They don't need rock-climbing walls," Ms. Buchy said. "People think it's the middle of nowhere, [but] it's really not."

The lure of Rhode Island

Rhode Island wasn't on Chris Tanski's mind when he began assembling a list of possible colleges. Then came an unsolicited pitch in the mail.

The University of Rhode Island wanted the Hampton High School junior to know full scholarships might be available for people with his general qualifications.

"It was pretty appealing," said the 17-year-old, who plans to study biology and medicine. And it kept URI in the running as Chris winnowed the three dozen schools he was considering to 16.

He's particularly interested in the universities of Pittsburgh and Toledo. Other prospects are within a six-hour trip, no farther west than Michigan.

"I didn't want to have to pay to fly him home for spring break, [so] that became an issue of 'What does your kid do during breaks?'" said his mother, Sharon Tanski.

Checking out the coasts

Colleges recruiting Clayton Jackson should know that his decision may be driven by goals that aren't necessarily in sync.

He wants to be a reconstructive surgeon.

But he also wants to plant himself on a campus near a beach.

"I want to see what it's like in other places. I figure I'm young now, and this is my chance to get out of Western Pennsylvania," said Clayton, 17, a Washington High School junior, explaining his focus on California and Florida schools.

The Dakotas and Montana are different from Pennsylvania, too. Why not a pre-med program there or elsewhere in the heartland?

"I'm not much for farmland and stuff like that," he said, dismissing a vast chunk of the nation.

Using family to get familiar with the options

	Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Monique Wingfield of Ben Avon: is listening to family as she makes her college choice Click photo for larger image.

Ask Monique Wingfield, 16, of Ben Avon, about her plans and you'll hear "pre-med." But listen to her describe schools that interest her, and two other words emerge: familiarity and family.

It's no shocker that the school topping her early list is the region's most visible -- the University of Pittsburgh, with its vast health sciences complex. Carlow and Duquesne universities are possibilities, too, said Monique, a junior at Avonworth High School and a forward on its soccer team.

She's willing to look more broadly at schools in the Northeast. Asked which ones she's leaning toward, two came up -- Tufts University and New York University. "Tufts is where my dad went, so I'm looking there, and NYU is, I think, a pretty good school because one of my cousins went there."

North Carolina on her radar

	Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Lisa Huber: Proximity to family is important Click photo for larger image.

North Carolina is a popular vacation spot with Western Pennsylvanians and a place where some end up relocating. That can make colleges there seem less foreign to some teens weighing options.

Among them is Lisa Huber, 18, a junior at Shaler Area High School. She's thinking about dental, medical or physical therapy studies. If she stays in Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh or Penn State University might be for her.

But one of the out-of-state schools on her radar -- the University of North Carolina at Pembroke -- brings an advantage that has nothing to do with its academic offerings.

"My uncle and aunt live down in North Carolina, so I was thinking if I could go there, I could visit them too, so I could be closer to family," she said.

Gerogetown summit spurs interest

	Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Karyn Kelly: A program at Georgetown has her looking toward the nation's capitol city Click photo for larger image.

The law summit for promising high school students that brought Karyn Kelly to Georgetown University over the summer had a big impact on her college plans.

It moved the Washington, D.C., school to the top of her list.

"Their law program was just amazing, and I fell in love with the campus," said Karyn, 17, a Shaler Area High School junior and aspiring lawyer. "I got to know some of the professors."

She hasn't ruled out other parts of the country. For instance, Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., has "a really good law school."

But the summit also left her thinking of Georgetown as a place that has what she's looking for: An urban setting that is not too large.

Thinking globally, but not about New England

Shelley Talpas will tell you she's willing to travel a long way to attend the right college. The South? For sure. California? Even Australia? No problem.

		Home and Away Part One: College-bound kids don't stray far from home Part Two: Serendipity plays key role when picking a college

"I would go anywhere," said Shelley, 17, of Eighty Four, Washington County, a Ringgold High School junior.

Of course, there are exceptions, and they don't involve hard-to-reach places.

"I don't want to go toward the New England states," she said, mentioning Maine and New Hampshire by name. "Too cold and it's too much like here. It's not anything different."

And the Midwest? "I don't know. I never really thought about it."

She wants a medium to large campus that sends students on to medical school. She's already received 90 letters from campuses.

"I don't even open some of them," she said. "I don't have time."