BOSTON -- Poor career opportunities and a high cost of living is causing about one in three college students to consider leaving Massachusetts after graduation, according to a new survey.

The study conducted by Intern Bridge, compiled questionnaires given to more than 800 students attending 16 colleges and universities in Massachusetts.

The organization found that students who came to the Bay State for college, but had not lived in Massachusetts previously, were far more likely to leave after graduating. A quarter of college students making plans to stay said they will only be in the state for four years or less.

The state contends that the number of people who claim to be leaving is high, but that there are always opportunities for those who want to stay.

"Attributing [the loss of young workers] to not having enough opportunities is false," said Dan Cruz of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor & Workforce Development. "You have so many people who come from out of state and around the world that it's impossible for everyone to want or be able to stay here."

But finding a job or career is only one part of the reason why college students said they want to leave the state, said Richard Bottner, president of Intern Bridge.

"Massachusetts is perceived as being an expensive place to live," Bottner said. "But that's not necessarily true."

The survey found that most people who wanted to leave Massachusetts said they wanted to go live and work in New York or the tri-state area.

"Wages aren't considerably higher in New York than in Massachusetts," and living expenses are mostly higher in the New York area, said Bottner.

Intern Bridge suggests that Massachusetts needs to bolster its campaigns pointing to the Bay State as an attractive place to live, said Bottner. If students could discover where to find affordable housing to match a decent wage they might be more inclined to stay, he said.

The state recently launched a massive marketing campaign that combines the resources of local government and private business to highlight exactly what Bottner suggests.

In September, a consortium of state agencies and business from around Massachusetts relaunched the "It's All Here" campaign.

"It's All Here" originally began in 2003, but was relaunched this fall to bring together more resources in one place than ever before.

The state and its partners wanted to promote Massachusetts and everything it has to offer -- including jobs, housing, recreation, education and more -- in a way that would lead to economic success and sustainability, said Kofi Jones, who oversees "It's All Here."

"It all works to support the Massachusetts ecosystem," said Jones.

Early on, campaign collaborators realized that one of the major components to successfully promoting Massachusetts was convincing students to stay here, Jones said.

Having educated professionals in the state increases revenues because there is a larger pool of high earners, Bottner said. Not only does the state benefit from taxes, but also from spending on state goods and services, he said. Highly educated professionals are more likely to start new businesses and create jobs -- which are at a premium during the recession, he said.

The organizers behind "It's All Here" couldn't agree more.

"We recognized that students are one of our greatest economic resources and we have some of the best academic institutions producing a highly educated group," said Jones.

For the first 90 days of the campaigns relaunch, the newly developed Web site was dedicated to student resources through its Opportunity Here section, Jones said.

The student section includes employment opportunities specifically in Massachusetts designed by employment search engine Monster.com -- which has one of its two world headquarters in Maynard, Mass.

There are also tools for finding housing based on affordability, distance from public transportation, employer and places of interest.

The site also links to networking and postgraduate education resources.

While the focus of the site's front-page changes every three months, all the resources are still easily available and growing all the time, said Jones.

The campaign focused on the Internet as a great way to make all the information easily accessible, Jones said.

The Web was the best way to do it because the campaign's diverse group of collaborators and supporters link to "It's All Here" on their own Web pages -- making it hard to miss, she said.

The group of collaborators includes educational institution, private business, media groups and state agencies, Jones said.

Most people may recognize "It's All Here" as one of the states marketing slogans, said Jones. But even that is a part of the larger campaign promoting the state.

"This collaboration is key to the state's success," said Jones.

She added that the state cannot always find solutions to every problem, which is why partnerships with private firms, like the ones created through this campaign, should be used more often.

Although "It's All Here" is a combination of state and private resources, state agencies also have their own initiatives offering help to workers of all age groups.

The state labor Web site offers a number of exclusive job listings, career seminars and specials programs that will point workers toward something in their field or a completely new opportunity, Cruz said.

The labor office also has 37 career centers around Massachusetts that help people improve their resume, learn about training opportunities, provide labor market data and research and help identifying new employment opportunities.

The state said its focus is giving as many workers and businesses an opportunity to succeed and expand as it can. They worry about demographics.

"There is nothing we do that is geared toward one group. Young professionals fall into and are covered by several initiatives," said Cruz.

The Commonwealth Corporation is an organization with an entire youth services branch that works specifically on advancing young professionals in the workforce.

In addition to youth services, the Commonwealth Corp also commissions research and grants centered around improving Massachusetts's overall workforce and keeping people employed.

The state also has regional workforce investment boards that look at the labor situation on a community level. The boards identify areas key to keeping people on the job and works with communities to institute necessary changes or programs.

"For anyone interested in staying in Massachusetts, there are career opportunities here," said Cruz.

If you asked a number of people working in state labor and economic offices about prospects in Massachusetts they may have a simple answer for you -- "it's all here."