Is the Northeast too cold, too woke, or too expensive? Maybe all of the above, if you ask parents. New data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System shows that schools in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) are seeing big strides in enrollment from Northeasterners. From 2014 to 2023, 12 of the 16 SEC schools saw an increase in enrollment from students from the Northeast.

• The biggest beneficiaries were LSU (+486%), Tennessee (+378%), and Ole Miss (+230%) — while Florida (+106%), Georgia (+106%), and Texas (+102%) still saw a doubling.
• The largest declines came from Missouri (-62%) and Oklahoma (-16%), which have faced racism-related controversies in recent years that have weighed on enrollment.

It just means more: Maybe it’s because ACC basketball has gotten really bad, Big Ten schools are increasingly difficult (and expensive) to get into, and Pac-12 (RIP) schools are just too far away. In any case, it’s not just Northeasterners embracing the SEC. Enrollment at these universities has been rising largely because most offer a surer path to admission; they’re also cheaper and boast a wider range of merit scholarships than non-SEC schools. And that’s an easy sell, even before you get to the pageantry of the South — homecoming, football, basketball, and much more — that are warming up the hearts of Northeasterners.