With Economic Problems, Are In-State Applicants At a Disadvantage

By: Ryan Dettmann

As many colleges began to endure the hard economic times that are afflicting much of the United States, many consider how much college budgets will be cut and that they’ll will have to slash their spending. But what not many are considering is how the economically suffering colleges are affecting in-state applicants and their acceptance into college. With the recent crunch in funds for colleges, colleges have turned to admitting more out-of-state student applicants putting in-state applicants at a disadvantage.

Many states have cut college funds, in some states reaching $16 billion and totaling almost $180 billion in a budget gap. This had made colleges reduce retirement contributions, even adjust furloughs, and make cuts in other areas. This has led colleges to seek other ways to bridge their budget gaps. One of the ways that colleges are trying to do is admit more out-of-state applicants, who have to pay more than in-state applicants. This has occurred at some colleges like University of Vermont who’s incoming class is three-fourths out-of-state residents and Rutgers University who are planning to increase their out-of-state acceptance from 10% to 25%. The question is where does this leave in-state students applying to in-state flagship colleges and the answer to that sometimes is that they are likely to be less favored to be accepted than an out-of-state student. This can occasionally leave students to either go to less prestigious in-state institutions or more prestigious out-of-state college, which sometimes they are more likely to go to the out-of-state.

Although some colleges money doesn’t specifically goes to the college and some states have numerous highly qualified universities, the increasing out-of-state acceptance rates are putting in-state applicants at a disadvantage in receiving an affordable higher education.