First choices may not always be the best choice. According to a national survey conducted by UCLA’s Higher Education Institute, fewer students are attending their first-choice colleges.

Many of these students were accepted by their first-choice colleges, however, one major reason for picking a different university was financing.

The survey said, “students attending less-than-first-choice-institutions view financial concerns are important.”

The survey shows that 49.8 percent of students nationwide attended their second-choice schools, with 39.3 percent attending their third choice and 34.6 percent attending their fourth choice or lower.

Distance from home and cost can be a major factor when selecting the right school. The same seems to ring true for Sacramento State. For many students, choosing a school is all about location, and there is no place like home.

“Sacramento State was actually my third choice,” said Kelsey Bonabia, a freshman majoring in business. “My first two choices were San Diego State and Humboldt State, but they were too far away. I chose Sac State because it is close to home.”

Bonabia is not alone. Many students, like David Arrezola, are passing up their first choice schools for Sac State because of its convenient location.

“I chose Sacramento State because it’s close to home, and the application process was easier than UC Davis. I wanted to go there at first? I’m having a great time here in Sac, especially since they fixed the parking problem,” Arrezola said.

There are plenty of students who chose Sac State above other potential choices, such as John Gallo, a sophomore majoring in business.

“I chose Sac because it’s close to home, and I like the visual appearance of the campus. I visited San Jose State, but it didn’t compare visually,” Gallo said.

“Close to home,” is a common statement students made about why they chose to attend Sac State. The convenience of living close to home is attractive to students who don’t want to venture too far away.

Amber Silva’s first choice-school was CSU Fullerton. She said she chose to attend Sac State because, “Fullerton was too far away and Sacramento is close to home.”

The majority of transfer students come from junior colleges located near campus. According to the Postsecondary Education Commission website, the majority of recent transfer students come from American River College and Sacramento City College.

Almost half of all Sac State transfer students in California come from the Los Rios Community College District, which is the nearest district to Sac State.

Brandon Van Meter can be reached at [email protected]