It is becoming increasingly apparent that our country is being further divided along political and cultural lines, and that does not bode well for our future stability.

A recent survey, which has garnered attention in academic circles, reveals that 25% of college applicants opted not to apply to certain institutions this year due to political factors in the state where the college is located, The Hill reported.

The finding, which has been circulating as a rumor among college admissions experts, has serious consequences for some of the country’s most esteemed universities, the outlet’s report further notes.

Tulane University in Louisiana, Stanford in California, Rice in Texas, Columbia in New York, and the University of Miami all take pride in forming classes from extensive pools of applicants originating from all states. In the public domain, the University of Alabama relies on out-of-state admissions for revenue, with almost three-fifths of its student body hailing from regions beyond its borders.

However, the survey found that both conservative and liberal applicants were ruling out such schools and states due to partisan politics.

“When you’re making a decision about a school, it’s really about choosing a community to live in,” Chloe Chaffin, 20, a junior at Washburn University in Kansas, told The Hill. “Students want to feel that they belong to the city-community beyond the campus walls.”

Chaffin opted for a college close to her residence in the Olathe suburb of Kansas City. Identifying as a liberal, she is involved in advocating for abortion rights. Her decision to remain in Kansas was influenced by the overwhelming defeat of a ballot measure in the previous summer that aimed to remove abortion rights from the state constitution, reflecting the broader turmoil in abortion legislation across the nation.

The survey found that 31 percent of liberal applicants eliminated colleges from consideration due to political factors, with abortion rights being a significant concern. The states experiencing the highest rejection rates were Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, the outlet added, citing the data.

“It actually tracks with conversations I’ve been having with my peers,” Gregory Koger, a political scientist at the University of Miami, noted to the outlet.

“If you’re female, there’s some chance that you might need access to an abortion, and there are some states where that’s not possible. If you’re LGBTQ, you want to go to schools and to states that are friendly toward that,” he added.

Similarly, 28 percent of conservative applicants dismissed states for political reasons, specifically California and New York. The rejection of these states by conservatives was less about particular policies and more about apprehension regarding a prevalent, stifling liberal atmosphere both on and off campus.

“I completely understand why some people would choose to be with their own, as opposed to being in a sea of people who are politically opposed to them, on either side of the aisle,” Nate Sirotovitch, 20, a junior at New York University who heads up the College Republicans, told the outlet.

Sirotovitch resides in the predominantly conservative state of Florida but opted for a college in the liberal-leaning New York, where he believed he would encounter friends from various political backgrounds. He succeeded in doing so, but to him, the survey highlights the increasing polarization between political factions in the country.

“If we stay in our echo chamber, it’s only going to get worse,” he said.