<p>For example, U. of Vermont is ~70% OOS, UCs are ~10% OOS, UNC is ~18% OOS, etc. I'm aware that California has a larger population, but then again there are MANY UCs and state schools in CA to accomodate for them...and it's not like there aren't people living in Vermont lol. So why does the % of OOSers at state flagships vary so wildly?</p>
<p>Each state, and in some cases each public college or university in that state, sets its own policy about how many OOS students to admit.</p>
<p>I think you are underestimating the size of CA’s population as compared to Vermont. CA has nearly 37M people and Vermont has only 600 thousand. CA has 60 times the population of Vermont. 8 UC’s doesn’t make a dent.</p>
<p>The primary purpose for a state university (especially the flagship) is providing an affordable quality education to those who support it, i.e. that state’s taxpayers. While OOS students provide diversity, and applicants with high stats will increase the school’s “prestige,” the state’s taxpayers won’t be happy to fund school which does not serve its constituency. A school like Vermont may accept more OOS because they feel the “prestige” factor outweighs the in state benefit, among other things. In California there are no shortage of exceptional students and they are already very well know (more than a school such as UVermont) so they have less incentive to accept OOS while denying their main benefactors.</p>
<p>Actually, here’s another view, based on my state and probably applicable to VT: OOS students pay more, get less aid. In states that struggle financially and can’t fund the State U’s generously- or states with a low population to draw from- OOS students are a revenue stream. </p>
<p>State schools do have a mandate to educate in-state kids. The flagship sets it’s flagship-level thresholds for an appplicant’s scores, GPA, etc. Kids who don’t meet that may qualify for a lesser state school. At many flagships, that threshold is often higher for OOS applicants, not for prestige, but to ensure enough spots for qualified in-state kids. I don’t doubt that they set targets for OOS percentages. But, I believe it’s based on research predictions of how many qualified in-state kids are likely to enroll in a given year.</p>
<p>UC’s costs more than 50K OOS. UNC OOS is a bargain.</p>
<p>I think geography accounts for much of the difference. Of course policy matters, but that is probably driven to some extent by geography, too.</p>
<p>California is the most populous state in the country, Vermont the 49th. Furthermore, VT is a small state with many neighboring small states. Travel distances from state to state are shorter in the Northeast.</p>
<p>UNC meets need, even for OOS students and the OOS population is capped at 18%.</p>
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<p>That’s the traditional rationale. Problem is, many states have been underfunding public higher education, and with many state legislatures facing substantial budget shortfalls further cuts are in the offing. As a consequence, many public universities are looking to expand OOS enrollment (and shrink in-state enrollment by a like amount), using the additional OOS tuition revenue to bridge their own budget gaps. Some top publics like Michigan (35% OOS) and Virginia (28% OOS) are already pretty far down that road. The University of California system, which has historically been <10% OOS, recently set a new target of 20% OOS. Basically these schools are sending a message to their state legislatures and taxpayers: you get what you pay for. If you won’t fully fund the cost of educating our in-state students, we’ll need to reduce the number of in-state students and make up the revenue gap by admitting more OOS. Despite its 35% OOS student body, the University of Michigan still gets less money from the state than the value of the tuition discounts (= difference between OOS and in-state tuition) it provides to Michigan residents. That’s led to semi-serious talk in the Michigan legislature about fully privatizing the university, though a more likely scenario is that they edge up the OOS percentage a bit more while still offering some discount for in-state students.</p>
<p>It may be a slightly different story at a school like Vermont. There probably aren’t enough college-age, college-ready Vermont residents to fully populate a full-service university. By admitting large numbers of OOS students, the University of Vermont raises enough revenue to be able to support a richer array of programs and services than it could otherwise offer to Vermont residents. To that extent, a heavily OOS student body is not a drain on Vermont taxpayers, but instead an alternative (non-tax) revenue source that gives Vermonters low-cost access to a better university than the state could otherwise afford or is willing to pay for. But if you think about it, you could make the same case concerning Michigan and Virginia, and the UC system appears to be headed in the same direction.</p>
<p>States with small geographical areas tend to have more OOS kids in their flagships because of state agreements and ease of travel. </p>
<p>Flagships that offer good OOS merit scholarships tend to have more OOS kids in their flagships.</p>
<p>Some states control/limit how many OOS kids they will accept so that there are enough seats for their own instate kids…(Texas, Florida, VA, UNC, CA, etc).</p>
<p>States like Texas and Calif even have rules like “top 10%” (or so) to be guaranteed a spot in one of their state schools.</p>
<p>State-to-state agreements in New England only apply to majors not offered at the home state U. There is also some consideration for New England kids living OOS but within 50 (60?) miles of the campus- and/or when the home state U is further than the adjoining state’s. I forget the nitty gritty, but tuition is discounted to in-state plus some small %. Doesn’t make it a revenue stream. Does fill slots.</p>
<p>LOL, about the only major UCONN offered that our state flagship didn’t have was “Puppetry” I believe. Somehow I could not convince our child to choose '“Puppetry” as a major! 
You only get that tuition break if your own state system doesn’t offer it.
It all worked out & UCONN was much cheaper then!</p>
<p>It surprised me that currently U of Alabama enrolled 43% freshmen from OOS. Each state has its own priorities. Alabama appears to be determined to draw (with merit scholarships) highly statted students from anywhere, which raises the bar for the entire school (and makes Professors happy – “yippee, another batch of NMFs to help me with my research”).</p>