Study 5
Public colleges and students from other states
Are public colleges enrolling more first-years from other states, and which ones?
Median public's out-of-state share
11%13%
Fall 2014 → fall 2024 · median public college
Public colleges
17%22%
Fall 2014 → fall 2024 · share of public colleges
Counting every public first-year
17%20%
Fall 2014 → fall 2024 · weighted by first-years
The national picture
The median public college's , each even fall since fall 2004 (residence is collected only in even-numbered falls, so odd years have no point). Private nonprofits, dashed below, are shown only as context: this study is about publics.
Counting applicants instead of colleges: weighted by each college's first-year class, 17% of public first-years came from other states in fall 2014, rising to 20% by fall 2024.
Students from abroad: the median public college's international share of first-years was 1.4% in fall 2014 and 1.3% in fall 2024: the shift toward other states is domestic, not international.
Where it changed
The same lines for each group, on one scale: median share (solid) and the 30%+ share (dashed). Switch to Students to weight each college by its first-year class.
Median out-of-state share (solid) and share of colleges 30%+ out-of-state (dashed), fall 2004 to fall 2024. Numbers: fall 2014 → fall 2024.
- Median out-of-state share
- 30%+ out-of-state
Northeast
120 colleges
Median 7% → 12% · 30%+ 14% → 22%
Southeast
140 colleges
Median 13% → 17% · 30%+ 19% → 28%
Midwest
103 colleges
Median 15% → 16% · 30%+ 20% → 24%
Southwest
48 colleges
Median 3% → 3% · 30%+ 13% → 10%
West
75 colleges
Median 12% → 12% · 30%+ 17% → 21%
Territories
10 colleges
Needs 30 or more
The out-of-state premium
Full price out-of-state minus full price in-state at the median public college, after inflation (2023–24 dollars). Relates the shift to money without attributing it.
2013–14: $13,929, and 15% of publics charged $20,000 or more extra. By 2023–24: $11,684, and 14% charged $20,000 or more extra.
Where they come from
Out-of-state first-years at public colleges, by home state, summed from each college's in fall 2024 (the newest year the data exists; it's a snapshot, not a trend). 565 public colleges reported the table.
Top sending states
- CA18,900
- IL18,896
- TX18,747
- NY13,850
- NJ13,774
What it means
Across 496 public colleges, the median out-of-state share rose from 11% in fall 2014 to 13% in fall 2024, and the share of publics that are 30%+ out-of-state rose from 17% to 22%. Research universities lead: among R1 publics, the median rose to 22%, and 37% are now 30%+ out-of-state. The Northeast changed most, from a low base: 7% to 12%. The Southwest barely moved: 3% to 3%.
This shows where the shift is concentrated, not why: it can reflect state funding, enrollment strategy, or demand from other states, and the data can't separate those.
How this was measured
- Which colleges. Public colleges reporting the out-of-state share in both years, with 200+ enrolled first-years at the window's start: 496 colleges in fall 2014 and fall 2024. It's a , so colleges entering or leaving the data don't look like change.
- Groups. Colleges are grouped by . A group needs 30 or more colleges in the panel; smaller ones show .
- Residence is collected every other year. IPEDS requires the home-state survey only in even-numbered falls, so the lines above have a point every two years; odd years are left out, not zero.
- Shares and medians count each college once. The Students view weights each college by its first-year class.
- Selectivity. Fewer than 30 public colleges admit under 25% of applicants, so that group shows "too few colleges to say" and folds into "60% or more" for the purposes of this note; the full breakdown above shows it separately.
- The premium (below) uses full sticker price, converted to 2023–24 dollars with the Consumer Price Index; prices are reported for the academic year and lag the residence survey by about a year, so its window is 2013–14 to 2023–24.
- Yearly lines run from fall 2004 over the panel colleges reporting each even fall; a year is left out of a line when under 90% of its colleges reported.
- The universe. The site's four-year colleges, not all of U.S. higher education. Breakdowns show where a change happened, not why.
Sources:IPEDS Fall Enrollment survey (part C, residence of first-time students), Fall 2004 to Fall 2024;IPEDS Institutional Characteristics survey (admissions section), Fall 2004 to Fall 2013;IPEDS Admissions survey, Fall 2014 to Fall 2024;IPEDS Institutional Characteristics survey, 2004–05 to 2023–24;inflation: BLS CPI-U, school-year averagesAbout the data(built 2026-10-12; CPI retrieved 2026-10-12)