Attending college far away from home

We often see soccer players commit to a college several states away from Georgia; Texas, Cali, etc. Sometimes it is much closer; Alabama, Tennessee, the Carolinas. A year or two later, many of those players have left that school and are attending a college in Georgia or much closer. I personally know of at least half a dozen such situations in the past couple of years. With the notable exception of a few players, such as Kelley O'hara at Stanford, Ashley Forster at Texas (I'm sure there are others), it seems like many players end up coming back to GA.

On the other hand, there are thousands of students from Georgia that attend out of state schools, without playing soccer, that are happy where they are and don't transfer out. Why is there such a seeming disparity between soccer player who attend out-of-state schools and regular students who do the same.

I dont' think it can be blamed all on finances, since many soccer players have the means and the scholarships to attend.

Is it their grades? I doubt that, since most of these continue to play soccer at another school.

Is it the loss of family contact? Why would the soccer players be more sensitive to it than the non-soccer players.

Is it an ego thing? Did they think that they would be starting at a powerhouse school and don't like riding the pine far from home? Maybe, but would that change in a GA school?

Or maybe I'm just wrong.

Any thoughts from you guys?