Dive Brief:
- In-state tuition isn’t the deal it used to be, with fewer relative spots at many public campuses for in-state students and higher costs.
- Kevin Carey, New America's education policy program director, draws on enrollment data from 2000 to 2012 showing flagship public universities have recruited significantly more international and out-of-state students amid stagnant or declining enrollment of in-state students.
- Carey argues the shift happened, in part, because of revenue needs but also because flagship publics are trying to become more like the Ivy League, attracting world class talent and charging as much as they can for it.
Dive Insight:
Budget cuts at the state level have forced public colleges and universities to seek revenue elsewhere. Raising tuition is politically unpalatable but increasing the number of out-of-state students gives public institutions greater tuition revenue even if the number of students stays the same. In many cases, institutions are allowing their student bodies to grow to accommodate additional students rather than playing a zero-sum game with enrollment. That cuts down on in-state criticism. Increasingly, institutions are jumping on the international student bandwagon, welcoming these students’ diverse perspectives to the classroom and taking their tuition dollars to the bank.