The increase in the percentage of non-resident students enrolling at state flagship universities has "a significantly negative relationship" with the number of students from low-income and "underrepresented racial groups" enrolled, write Bradley R. Curs, an associate professor at the University of Missouri, and Ozan Jaquette, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, in a new research draft presented this week at an American Educational Research Association meeting.
State universities have hiked tuition in response to consistent cuts from legislatures in recent decades. Though some states limit how much in-state tuition can increase, those limits do not typically exist on non-resident tuition rates, leading students from wealthier backgrounds to feel more comfortable applying to those schools than their peers from less-wealthy households.
