<p>Penn State main campus is 1/3 OOS. They say there is no advantage in the admissions process to being in-state - everyone is treated the same as far as residency.</p>
<p>In the past, there were comments on this site that Pitt seemed to be directing much of their merit aid to out of state students. The rationale is that in-state students were already getting a bargain, but that top OOSs wouldn’t pay Pitt’s list price for out of state tuition.</p>
<p>Penn State’s main merit program has been entry into the Scheyer Honors College - which is around $4K a year. This year they added additional merit scholarships, which may have occurred after a drop in applications. Many of those new merit scholarships are only for 2 years.</p>
<p>The THON fundraising goes directly to programs inside Penn State’s own Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. That huge hospital was built using land and money that was diverted from the trust for orphans that was set up by Mr. Hershey, the founder of the Hershey Corp.</p>
<p>UVa will never ever ever go private. First, the state will never give such a valuable resource (they own the land and buildings), and second, everyone inside UVa knows it would conflict with Mr. Jefferson’s wishes. </p>
<p>UVa did receive more independence from the State in its operations a few years ago. The standard that 65 to 70% of undergrad students at UVa must be in-state residents has been in place for many decades. It is a delicate balance between competing interests, but I expect it will continue. </p>
<p>UVa made a deal with the Governor that they will increase undergrad enrollments in phases for both in-state and out-of-state students if the state provides sufficient funding to pay for the additional in-state students. The ratio would stay the same. UVa openly admits that the full pay out of state students subsidize the in-state students, because the state aid has been decreasing. The huge increase in non-US students (who are not eligible for most UVa aid) helps to keep the system working financially.</p>