The top five states that send out-of-state undergraduate students to Ohio University are Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, New York and New Jersey, according to fall 2016 data provided by OU Spokesman Jim Sabin.
Pennsylvania is the only border state that does not participate in tuition reciprocity with Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Higher Education. Tuition reciprocity makes attending out-of-state schools more affordable by granting in-state tuition to out-of-state students.
However, Pennsylvania sent the most undergraduate students in to OU with 624 students. That No. 1 position cannot entirely be chalked up to proximity because no other border state made the top five.
Pennsylvania sent 551 more students to OU than Kentucky and Michigan, the next highest border states with 73 students each. The states that do participate in tuition reciprocity — Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and West Virginia — claim spots seven through 10 on the list. Virginia beat out all four of those states with 90 students.
Five of the top 10 public colleges or universities with the highest in-state tuition nationally are also in the top five states that send students to OU, according to US News and World Report. Four of those five spots go to schools in Pennsylvania. There are also three schools from Virginia on that list, which sends the sixth most out-of-state students to OU.
“The other school I was picking between was also out-of-state,” Alec Charron, an undecided freshman from Pennsylvania, said. He said he was choosing between OU and the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
Certain programs at OU are also a draw for out-of-state students.
“(OU) had a better undecided program than any other school that I was considering,” Charron said.
The Undecided University College is the second largest major for out-of-state students with 158 students. Charron also cited distance and family ties to OU as a factor in his decision.
“Well, in the first, place my dad went here, so that was one factor,” Charron said.
Journalism is the top major for out-of-state students with 169 student studying it. That program is what drew freshman Connor Mills from New Jersey to OU.
“Ohio has one of the best journalism programs in the nation, and I thought it was a perfect fit,” Mills said.
Mills also took tuition into consideration when deciding on a college.
“I thought I got the most out of my money for the best school possible,” Mills said.
OU has brought in students from all but four states: Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho and Montana.
With a total of more than 2,000 out-of-state students and 569 international students in OU’s undergraduate program, in-state attendees still make up the majority of OU students with 15,608.
