@PurpleTitan "More possible in some states than others.
In many states, the university board is appointed by officials. In MI, they are elected by MI voters."
I would think that the state would like to not have to fund the school in the future. It could be a “win, win.”
“In UIUC and many UC’s, you are admitted by major, so you know what you get.”
However, if a student wants to change his/her major at some point, like the majority of students do, then you go into the funnel of limited/blocked access to popular majors. UIUC has such a constrained budget that to pay the bills, they have to sell their most valuable seats in high demand majors to full-pay international and OOS students. To do that, they have to erect barriers to keep the in-state students out, and that is exactly what they do.