<p>"Isn’t that also true that better economy will lead to a better tax base and therefore more legislative appropriations?"</p>
<p>The costs are now the payoff is in the future. You are also assuming that the students lured to the school would find spots in the local economy and not just take their education back to their home state or elsewhere. Additionally a better tax base doesn't assure more money appropriated.</p>
<p>If you want in state tuition all you have to do is say you are an undocumented alien. You can get it if you wade across the Mexican border just not if you show up from Pennsylvania.</p>