As school starts this week or next across the country, the big education story is how the Southeastern Conference – from Florida, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, LSU, Tennessee, etc. – have become the hottest campuses to attend.

As we reported a few weeks ago, dreary and stodgy northeastern elite liberal arts schools are losing students and money, with some even shutting down due to dwindling enrollments.

Meanwhile, applications for SEC schools hit an all time high in 2026.

While the SEC schools have improved academically, they also have a fun social environment, especially with the wild festivities on college football Saturdays. It doesn’t hurt that down south, girls don’t dress like boys – just ask the male students.

Here’s a good summary of the rise of the SEC:

Every year, the college application process looks a little different, but the trends of 2026 are something no one has seen before. With hundreds of thousands of students flocking to southern schools, application volume rising by more than 5%, and an increased interest in the college football atmosphere, colleges are fighting to accommodate the recent high levels of interest they’re receiving…

According to The Sunday [London] Times, the 16 universities belonging to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) recorded a 91 percent rise in undergraduate students from northeastern states from 2014 to 2023. Southern schools like Alabama, Tennessee, and Ole Miss have had recent enrollment from opposite ends of the U.S., from places as far as New York to California.

Gee, these trends sure sound familiar. It’s not just families, money, and businesses fleeing blue states. Now it’s the Gen Z college kids that are choosing red states too! Many will probably stay there.