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News

4-Year Colleges That Drew the Highest Percentages of First-Time Students From Out of State, Fall 2016

Almanac 2018 August 19, 2018

Among the colleges that drew the highest percentages of first-time students from other states were elite private institutions on the East Coast; colleges devoted to serving American Indians, deaf and hard-of-hearing people, African-Americans, or Seventh-day Adventists; colleges in states with relatively small populations; and universities close to the borders of states with which they have tuition-reciprocity agreements. North Dakota State University, the University of North Dakota, and the University of Wisconsin at Superior all had more first-time students from Minnesota than from their own states. Vanderbilt University was the only private institution on the list that drew more students from its own state than from any other state.

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Among the colleges that drew the highest percentages of first-time students from other states were elite private institutions on the East Coast; colleges devoted to serving American Indians, deaf and hard-of-hearing people, African-Americans, or Seventh-day Adventists; colleges in states with relatively small populations; and universities close to the borders of states with which they have tuition-reciprocity agreements. North Dakota State University, the University of North Dakota, and the University of Wisconsin at Superior all had more first-time students from Minnesota than from their own states. Vanderbilt University was the only private institution on the list that drew more students from its own state than from any other state.


Return to the Almanac home page, or go to the Profession, Students, Finance, or States section. To purchase a copy of the Almanac in print or as a downloadable interactive PDF, visit the Chronicle Store. Help guide us to give you the data you need by taking our 10-minute online Almanac survey.


4-year public institutions

RankInstitutionRegion First-time U.S. students From other statesFrom other regionsTop sending state Number from top sending state
1. Haskell Indian Nations U. (Kan.) Plains 151 81.5% 59.6% Oklahoma 35
2. U. of Vermont New England 1,988 75.2% 38.2% Massachusetts 378
3. U. of Alabama at Tuscaloosa Southeast 7,462 67.8% 38.4% Georgia 559
4. Delaware State U. Mideast 887 66.0% 10.1% New Jersey 130
5. North Dakota State U. Plains 2,384 65.9% 4.8% Minnesota 1,394
6. Keene State College (N.H.) New England 987 64.0% 7.3% Massachusetts 262
7. U. of North Dakota Plains 1,695 64.0% 14.7% Minnesota 793
8. U. of Delaware Mideast 4,120 60.5% 9.4% New Jersey 952
9. U. of New Hampshire New England 2,782 58.5% 10.7% Massachusetts 896
10. Lincoln U. (Pa.) Mideast 466 57.7% 5.8% New York 68
11. Oklahoma Panhandle State U. Southwest 173 56.6% 20.2% Texas 58
12. U. of Mississippi Southeast 3,718 56.4% 27.2% Texas 386
13. Central State U. (Ohio) Great Lakes 586 56.3% 4.8% Michigan 126
14. Langston U. (Okla.) Southwest 438 56.2% 32.6% Texas 103
15. Coastal Carolina U. (S.C.) Southeast 2,157 55.8% 40.7% Virginia 139
16. U. of Rhode Island New England 2,728 55.8% 21.4% Massachusetts 504
17. Jackson State U. (Miss.) Southeast 1,174 54.3% 30.7% Illinois 185
18. U. of Wisconsin at Superior Great Lakes 306 54.2% 52.0% Minnesota 153
19. Southern Oregon U. Far West 594 54.0% 3.7% California 220
20. West Virginia U. Southeast 4,739 54.0% 42.7% Pennsylvania 696

4-year private nonprofit institutions

RankInstitutionRegion First-time U.S. students From other statesFrom other regionsTop sending state Number from top sending state
1. Gallaudet U. (D.C.) Mideast 208 99.0% 73.1% California 20
2. American U. (D.C.) Mideast 1,536 98.9% 59.9% New Jersey 174
3. Georgetown U. (D.C.) Mideast 1,403 98.6% 61.2% New York 211
4. George Washington U. (D.C.) Mideast 2,094 98.3% 57.5% New York 286
5. Howard U. (D.C.) Mideast 814 98.3% 64.1% New York 110
6. Catholic U. of America (D.C.) Mideast 621 98.1% 37.0% Maryland 110
7. Dartmouth College (N.H.) New England 905 97.6% 82.2% California 131
8. Bennington College (Vt.) New England 125 96.8% 85.6% California 33
9. Middlebury College (Vt.) New England 509 95.7% 67.2% Massachusetts 91
10. Brown U. (R.I.) New England 1,373 95.5% 76.5% California 237
11. Rhode Island School of Design New England 313 94.2% 72.8% California 57
12. U. of Notre Dame (Ind.) Great Lakes 1,871 94.1% 69.3% Illinois 241
13. King’s College (N.Y.) Mideast 143 93.7% 86.0% Texas 28
14. Union College (Neb.) Plains 136 93.4% 77.2% California, Florida (tie) 17
15. Yale U. (Conn.) New England 1,173 93.2% 86.1% New York 190
16. Reed College (Ore.) Far West 287 92.7% 48.4% California 96
17. Oberlin College (Ohio) Great Lakes 670 92.2% 80.0% New York 109
18. Wesleyan U. (Conn.) New England 606 91.6% 76.7% New York 130
19. Providence College (R.I.) New England 1,021 91.4% 34.1% Massachusetts 392
20. Vanderbilt U. (Tenn.) Southeast 1,266 90.8% 63.5% Illinois 114

Note: The “first-time U.S. students” counted in this table are first-time degree- or certificate-seeking American undergraduate students who graduated from a high school in the last 12 months preceding their enrollment in college and who were enrolled in college in the fall of 2016. Students whose states were unknown were excluded from the total. For-profit and two-year colleges were excluded from the comparison. Institutions with 50 percent or more of students taking classes through distance education only were also excluded from the comparison, as were institutions with fewer than 100 first-time undergraduate students from the United States. At four-year public institutions over all, 16.5 percent of such students were from outside the college’s home state, and 9.4 percent were from outside the region. At four-year private nonprofit institutions, 48.8 percent of first-time students were from outside the college’s home state, and 30.3 percent were from outside the region. Regions are defined by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Percentages are rounded; institutions were ranked before rounding. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.

Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data

A version of this article appeared in the August 24, 2018, issue.
Read other items in Students: Almanac 2018.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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