Univ. accepts more out-of-state students to preserve revenue

Fearful of a sharp decline in revenue from out-of-state tuition, the university admitted more non-resident students than usual this year.

Expecting the number of out-of-staters who actually enroll to decline because the struggling economy will make the university's significantly higher out-of-state tuition more difficult to afford, the university is admitting more non-residents in hopes of keeping the ratio similar to what it has been in past years.

"We extended more offers to out-of-state students because we know it will be hard to attract them," said Barbara Gill, the director of undergraduate admissions, who said she is "concerned" about a drop in non-resident enrollment because students might choose to attend cheaper state colleges.

Out-of-staters make up about 24 percent of the student body. But due to much higher tuition rates for non-residents, they provide more than half of the university's tuition revenue. If out-of-state enrollment was to decline drastically, the university would be in financial trouble, officials said.

"We're dependent on the 24 percent to balance the budget," said John Blair, the university's director of budget and fiscal analysis. "The numbers we have total to maintain a certain population. We try to be consistent."

Blair said the university tries to maintain the number of resident students because they want to "provide significant access to in-state students" even though the university makes significantly more money from out-of-state student. A Board of Regents policy mandates the student body consists of at least 70 percent in-state students.

While the cost of in-state tuition has been frozen for the past three years, out-of-state tuition has been steadily climbing. Last year, it increased four percent to $21,637. In-state tuition stayed at $6,566.

This gap means that for every 1,000 in-state students enrolled instead of out-of-state students, the university loses $15 million, Blair said.

Blair said the university expects the same percentage of in-state and out-of-state students to enroll this fall. To ensure this, Gill said she hopes new admissions and recruitment efforts will be able to encourage an equal amount of out-of-staters to enroll.

Gill also said the university is accepting fewer transfer students than in the past to try and increase the university's Shady Grove campus. This year, they plan to enroll 300 fewer transfer students than last year's 2,400. The university plans on enrolling the same number of total freshmen as last year - about 4,000.

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