I would be interested to know why out of state students choose Miami? As an Ohio resident I can see why - fantastic education at in-state prices. Just curious what is motivating out of state students to come to Oxford? Is everyone getting merit aid? Do you think Miami is unique compared to flagship state schools in other states?
Maybe because they think it’s located in Florida?
My son from Arizona really liked the campus, the town, and the focus on undergraduate education. Generous merit aid made it only slightly more expensive than Arizona State and Arizona. Plus, I think he wanted to get out of Arizona for his education. We visited about 16 OOS colleges (we started with his older brother.) ASU was too big and many schools were too small, so I guess it was a bit of a Goldilocks decision. Anyway, he graduates in May with a major in bioengineering and minor in mechanical engineering. We will enjoy one last visit to Oxford for graduation.
We are in NY. Unfortunately, for various reasons, none of our state schools are a great fit for our daughter (she got into Binghamton and Buffalo honors).
She’s looking for a mid-sized school (15-20K range) that’s not too far from home (Miami stretches that a bit) that has a very solid academic reputation, good school spirit and somewhere she can get merit aid with her stats.
Miami actually comes in with the lowest COA of all non-NYS schools and is only about $10K more than Binghamton over the 4 years (total, not per year).
We are in CT, and my son is looking for a medium-large school and isn’t interested in UConn. Miami has a great reputation–an excellent business school, along with a Chinese/business certificate that not many (if any) other schools offer. There are other schools that offer a Chinese Flagship program, but that isn’t specific to a business degree. Miami also is very generous with merit, making it a very attractive option. He is there now for Make It Miami, so we’ll see what happens!
My FS specifically wanted to go to an OOS. We are from MD and he did not want to go to college with 75% of his graduating class/neighbors, etc. I think he was impressed with all the trapping of Miami - college town, strong social scene, great business school, and he was impressed with the stats on alumni involvement and recruiting. We were fortunate to get a great scholarship that has made Miami less than our in-state tuition, so once we saw the beautiful campus, etc., we were sold. I’m so proud of how he has handled being 10 hours from home and love his independent spirit.
The misleading name probably turns off some people, but I’d guess the staggering beauty of the campus & its medium size are what attract many people. So many Big 10 schools have gotten so huge in population & their campuses so sprawling in size–MU is a refreshing contrast to the bigger-is-better approach.
“The misleading name probably turns off some people”
It’s unfortunate people think the name misleading. It was a university almost 90 years before Miami was a city. Named for the Miami indian tribe that inhabited the area. Perhaps the city in FL is the one that’s misleading. 
@lvvcsf It’s just that University of Miami is a much more well-known school (at least here in the northeast) so when you say Miami, that’s what people immediately think.
The Miami admissions department frequently likes to note that Miami was a University before Florida was a state.
Both my older daughter and I attend(ed) schools with confusing names as well, so we’ve been through this one before.
@lexluthor5 We are in NY also ~ way upstate. Miami is one of my daughter’s top choices. We had the same situation, none of the NY schools were a fit for her, either.
@lorabora were you Make it Miami on the 18th? We met someone from Plattsburgh then!
My D19 from IL is seriously considering Miami because of the COA after Merit. Our state flagship U of IL in champaign is basically not giving out much money to high stats kids. So our hunt for a college led us out of state.
@gpo613 - You will see my post above concerning Miami. Have you looked at Iowa State? There are many kids there from Illinois. My Arizona son lives in a house with three kids from the Chicago area. Admission decisions take 48 hours and are formula-based. https://www.iowaregents.edu/institutions/higher-education-links/regent-admission-index. OOS tuition is low compared to most universities. https://www.registrar.iastate.edu/fees Merit aid is generous and you can calculate expected merit aid. For example, if your daughter has at least a 3.3 GPA, 28 ACT or 1300 SAT, she would get $8,000 per year in merit aid. https://www.admissions.iastate.edu/scholarships/freshman.php?state_id=IL-Illinois Ames is a great college town and campus is beautiful. It’s a five-hour drive from the western suburbs.
In 2018, ISU had 4,246 students enrolled from Illinois, out of 28,706 total undergraduate students.