Elite State Universities: Why Their Rejection Rates Are Climbing

(MoneyWatch)  More and more state flagship universities are telling their homegrown teenagers to take a hike.
Flagship universities are rejecting a growing number of their own state residents. Here's why: As support from state governments dwindle across the country, public universities are hungry for cash. Many of these financially desperate universities are choosing outside applicants to be their sugar daddies.

If the University of Michigan, for example, rejects a Detroit applicant and welcomes one from New York City or Dubai, the school will pocket a heck of a lot more cash. The teenager from Detroit would pay $11,848 in tuition while the outsider would be on the hook for $35,126.

It's not hard to find flagships that are welcoming large numbers of non-residents. Here is a sampling of elite state universities that have a high percentage of out-of-state and international students:

• University of Virginia 33%
• University of Michigan 35%
• University of Wisconsin 36%
• Penn State University 34%
• College of William and Mary 36%
• Indiana University 37%
• University of Iowa 48%
• University of Vermont 74%

After resisting this trend for years, UC Berkeley just announced that it too will be welcoming more international students and teens from other states to generate more dollars. Currently, only 9% of UC Berkeley's undergrads hail from outside California. To make room for these outsiders, UC Berkeley is going to reject 15% more California teenagers for the next school year.

High schoolers are beginning to get the message that their own state universities just aren't that into them. More families are beginning to cast a wider net, which includes looking at private universities. That's true even in a state like California where 84% of students end up at state universities.

Private colleges and universities are salivating at the thought of grabbing great students who would normally not hesitate about attending a school like UC Berkeley or UCLA. Some of them will discover that attending a private university with a expensive price tag can actually be cheaper than a state university.

As for the flagship universities, I am wondering what has become of their public mission.

Rejection rate image by Quetzalcoati1. CC 2.0.


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