In 47 states, schools have a higher proportion of students from elsewhere than 20 years ago. At a time when school budgets are tightening and college enrollment is decreasing, state universities are increasingly turning to nonresident students to boost their revenues. In 47 states, public research universities increased the proportion of out-of-state undergraduate students they admitted between 2002 and 2022, according to an analysis of federal education data done for Stateline by University of Wisconsin-Madison education professor Nicholas Hillman.
