I don't think the sole issue is that it's cheap, but if you compare two schools where you like both of them, you could play soccer at both, but you save 20k+ a year by going in state...I think most people end up choosing the "save 80k a year" option. You should never go somewhere "just because" of something because being unhappy will end up affecting your performance at the school.
But cost, again, can have a HUGE influence. I got into multiple schools and was dying to get out of state...but I got a full ride + to a local school and my parents pretty much said "you're going, end of story." It wasn't worth 80k+ interest on top of whatever my next step costs--in this case 40k a year in loans for four more years plus crappy pay and crappy hours for a few years afterward--just to go elsewhere.
It's just something everyone has to evaluate personally and as a family and generally, 80k+ in debt isn't worth it to a lot of people anymore.
Also, I don't know if it stands anymore, but back when I played, parents and players had a little input with the coaches as to where we wanted to go. Our coach would say, we can get into these tournaments, we need to do at least 2, what do we want to do. If that still stands, then it's not CESA making those decisions, it's the players and coaches deciding what's best for them.
