Dive Brief:
- Inside Higher Ed reports on a new initiative at the University of Virginia to increase access for in-state students. The school will guarantee 100 new admissions openings for residential applicants, a sign of response to legislative concerns about out-of-state enrollment increases.
- UVA officials said that in-state enrollment has grown 49% since 1990, and that total enrollment is up 41% over the same period.
- The university will offer a new scholarship program which will give in-state families making $125,000 or less annually $2,000 for qualified students who do not receive aid from other resources.
Dive Insight:
As more colleges focus on increasing revenues with out-of-state recruitment and look to stabilize endowment growth within unstable markets, UVA and similar institutions are taking big bets to meet public demand for in-state access.
The strategy for these schools and others looking for similar outreach in-state will be to focus on recruiting students in affluent enclaves, or targeting high-achieving students who will be supported by federal grants and scholarship opportunities. When price tags and rigor could be a recruitment challenge based upon the quality of the state school system, campuses must work that much harder to recruit students with academic and financial saying power.