Anywhere but Nevada, top students say

By Charlotte Hsu

Saturday, Sept. 29, 2007 | 7:24 a.m.

They're the type of student colleges court - driven and diligent, earning near-perfect grades in high school.

But when the time comes to choose a university, some educators say, too many of Nevada's highest achieving college-goers leave the state.

Samantha Graham, who attended high school at Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts, took out a $23,000 loan to attend Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., this fall.

"I was one of the kids who referred to UNLV as "U Never Leave Vegas," she said.

"If you go to UNLV, it's just so easy to just go down to the Strip" and park cars or "become a waitress and drop out," she said.

Ryan Doptis, a Coronado High School graduate, chose the University of Colorado at Boulder because he viewed UNLV as the "13th grade," the pick of unmotivated teens.

Although UNLV and UNR are still the most popular options for university-bound Clark County teens, some higher education officials worry that too many of the best leave, draining the state of some of its sharpest talent.

Information on Seton Hall University's gems and jewels filled the view book that came in the mail for Graham .

On the cover was a snapshot of campus, of green lawns and a brownstone and stained-glass chapel half a century older than Las Vegas. Just 15 miles out of Manhattan, Seton Hall was gorgeous, old, a change from the glitz-and-glamour casinos and stucco-box houses of home.

Peeking inside the book, Graham, then in high school, read about a five-year joint bachelor's and master's degree program in diplomacy. She was hooked.

UNLV sent materials, too, but its pitch just wasn't as appealing.

"It was mostly about how much cheaper it would be, that sort of thing," Graham said.

Counselors pushed state schools, emphasizing that good students would qualify for the Mil l ennium Scholarship, which provides up to $10,000 toward college in Nevada, Graham said.

Most of what she and classmates learned about day-to-day life at UNLV came from friends and siblings who went there, people such as a co-worker at Albertson s struggling to finish a fifth year.

Graham didn't apply to UNLV or UNR.

An aspiring diplomat or civil servant with an interest in international law, Graham saw the East Coast as better suited to work she wanted to pursue.

The "U Never Leave Vegas" stereotype stuck out in her mind - go to UNLV, and you'll likely drop out. That gig waiting tables will become permanent.

Leaving Nevada was "prestigious," "the more intellectual" thing to do, Graham said.

"UNLV was not an option," she said. "My parents spelled that out.

"The thing is, if people are going to go out of state, they're going to beg, borrow and steal to go," said Graham, who expects her $23,000 loan to last one year.

That students such as Graham shun UNLV in their hunt for an academic challenge frustrates university President David Ashley.

One solution, says Bill Boldt, UNLV's vice president for advancement, is to bring more high schoolers to campus to talk to UNLV students and faculty about life there.

"We need to show students the product so they can make an informed decision," said Boldt, who sees UNLV as an emerging force in higher education.

Data exist to back his view.

The number of bachelor 's degree programs UNLV offered rose from about 80 to more than 100 in the past decade. UNLV's law, hotel, writing and science programs have gained national recognition.

And though UNLV still struggles to score competitive grants instead of relying on earmarks to finance research, Ashley distributed more than $1 million this year to help scholars establish projects that could later win awards from agencies such as the National Science Foundation.

"We need to do a better job of telling our story," said Michael Wixom, chairman of Nevada higher education's Board of Regents. "All of our institutions need to do a better job of that - getting into the high schools and telling our story."

UNLV didn't interest Doptis mainly because it "isn't that acclaimed of a university," he said. U.S. News & World Report, which Doptis consulted, ranked the school as a tier-four institution - the lowest for a national university .

An aspiring engineer, Doptis wanted to be at a research powerhouse. Again, not UNLV, he said.

He thought Colorado was a school where discoveries take place regularly, where he could take part in meaningful research as an undergraduate.

Other experiences also reinforced UNLV's image as inferior. A high school English teacher Doptis described as a major influence would invite former students who left Nevada for college to talk to current pupils about possibilities.

His parents supported his decision, he said, "because they realized that the academic standards at UNLV and UNR weren't very high compared to some of the out-of-state universities."

"The people who just wanted to have 13th grade went to UNLV, and the people who are a little higher than that venture out to Reno," he said. "And my opinion is , people who really want to take a major step went out of state."

Losing young people such as Doptis who have high aspirations can be a huge loss to the state.

The best students are likely to become the next generation of highly paid and tax paying professionals. And they become the most innovative and productive adults, says state higher education Chancellor Jim Rogers.

A third of the college-goers from the Clark County School District, the nation's fifth largest , leave the state, according to Kim Boyle, director of guidance and counseling. In contrast, about 16 percent of college-goers from Chicago Public Schools , the nation's third - largest district, leave Illinois, a state with many education options.

Some of what Doptis, Graham and others think of state schools may be more perception than fact. But many problems are real.

Just 39 percent of UNLV and 49 percent of UNR students graduate within six years, well below the 55 percent average of a group of peer institutions. The percentages of freshmen who return for a second year - 70 percent at UNLV and 77 percent at UNR - are also below average.

Rogers advocates courting talent with money because, "No matter what anybody says, you have to buy students. And if you're putting it any other way , you're kidding yourself."

And money, some local counselors say, is what persuades many top students to stay - especially when they see the price tag on a Harvard or a Stanford education.

But many of the students who have worked hard to get to a top-tier school wouldn't even consider UNLV or UNR, said Todd Herrick, head counselor at Rancho High School.

"They view them as they're OK, they're good," Herrick said, "but they're not to the great elite level that they're looking to go to."

Tiffany Nguyen had always looked up to her older sister, who attended the University of California at Irvine. Following her sibling's lead, Nguyen applied only to UCs, filling out one application for six schools .

"I really wanted to get out," she said. "Just that feeling of accomplishment, that feeling of independence was really important to me."

Academics were "pretty secondary" in Nguyen's decision to leave Nevada, she said. She knew UNLV was improving, that it has good programs that attract out-of-state students.

She felt she could have been successful at UNLV. Financially UNLV would have been a good decision, too. The annual cost of attending Berkeley for Nguyen is about $40,000.

Still, the idea of going to college with hordes of teens she knew from high school was not attractive.

UNLV President Ashley said administrators can't do much about students such as Nguyen who just want to get away from home.

"The students that I worry about are the Nevada students that want to stay in Nevada and don't find the educational opportunities that are right for them," he said.

But as UNLV improves its reputation and programs, Ashley expects more Nevadans to stay. He hopes recent additions including a library, student union and recreation center will persuade students to spend more hours on campus, and view a UNLV education as a full-time, not part-time, pursuit.

Students who left Nevada also have opinions about how state schools can retain the best.

Jocelyn Perez, a University of Southern California freshman from Las Vegas, suggested upping selectivity in admissions at UNLV and UNR, a process already under way. Good students want to be around other good students, Perez said.

Doptis said UNLV should improve its campus, which sits beside nail salons and tattoo shops - a contrast to college towns such as Boulder , where students crowd the streets.

Private developers are collaborating with school officials on plans to transform the area around UNLV by building more student housing, retail and entertainment venues.

For now, state and higher education officials can take solace in the fact that some students who leave say post-college life might bring them back to Nevada. Doptis, for one, would return to Vegas to be with his family if career options looked good.

But Nevada might lack what some of its children want even after college .

Robson Hauser, a Vegas native who's a freshman with Perez at USC, wants to represent professional athletes as a sports agent.

Of coming home, he said, "If Vegas got sports teams, I would love to. But if that doesn't happen, no, I won't be back."