A recent article in the New York Times reports that the number of out-of-state freshmen attending public colleges and universities has nearly doubled since 1986. The Great Out-of-State Migration: Where Students Go (August 26, 2017) presents 2014 data from the U.S. Department of Education that shows the flow of students for each state: the number who leave for college elsewhere, and the number of students coming in from other states. The frequency with which students leave their home states to attend college is not surprising given what we see with the rising number of interstate transfer students. Even though students who leave their home states pay higher out-of-state tuition rates, and may forego state financial aid, enrolling in an out-of-state institution has benefits that an in-state school may not offer: independence, a more attractive climate, merit scholarships, tuition reciprocity agreements, or acceptance if they were denied entry to their own public universities.
reports that the number of out-of-state freshmen attending public colleges and universities has nearly doubled since 1986. The Great Out-of-State Migration: Where Students Go (August 26, 2017) presents 2014 data from the U.S. Department of Education that shows the flow of students for each state: the number who leave for college elsewhere, and the number of students coming in from other states. The frequency with which students leave their home states to attend college is not surprising given what we see with the rising number of interstate transfer students. Even though students who leave their home states pay higher out-of-state tuition rates, and may forego state financial aid, enrolling in an out-of-state institution has benefits that an in-state school may not offer: independence, a more attractive climate, merit scholarships, tuition reciprocity agreements, or acceptance if they were denied entry to their own public universities.
States that lose more students than they take in include Alaska, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Texas. A few states “break even” – gaining roughly the same number of out-of-state students as the number of native students who leave: Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wyoming. Several states gain a considerable number of students from other states, including: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia.