UF is seeing a rise in its percentage of out-of-state freshmen compared to other public universities in Florida, according to recent data.
From 2012 to 2017, Florida public universities have largely maintained their percentage of in-state freshmen, according to a study released Thursday in the Fort Myers News-Press. The percentage of out-of-state freshmen at public universities across the country and UF increased.
The article cites a study, conducted by USA TODAY, which analyzed statistics from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.
Ten percent is the limit on non-Florida resident enrollment in the State University System of Florida, which is home to over 300,000 students, according to its website.
The Florida public university system as a whole has to abide by this 10 percent limit, not individual universities. As of Fall 2018, 21 percent of the UF student body are out-of-state students.
In 2012, UF in-state enrollment accounted for 96.43 percent of the freshman class, said Charles Murphy, the director of freshman and international admissions. By 2017, that number decreased to 92.08 percent.
“The university over the last five-to-ten years has gained sort of moreof a national reputation, and I think the applicant pool over time has represented more of a national applicant pool,” Murphy said.
Murphy noted a minor difference between UF’s internal statistics displayed on its Institutional Planning and Research web page and the numbers cited in the article.
“The article combined on-campus and online, so that might be where their statistics came from and the small discrepancy in these numbers from the article,” he said.
Murphy spoke of increased efforts to keep some of the brightest Florida high school students in the state.
“The university has started to offer honors admission at the time of admission, some receiving $2,000, for students who have other fantastic universities on their list and private universities,” Murphy said. “We’re trying to show the importance of keeping them in Florida.”
One such student is Sabrina Guillen, a 17-year-old UF biochemistry freshman.
“State schools are much cheaper than private schools so that was a big reason why I stayed in-state, and I thought UF was a lot better than other in-state schools,” she said.
The UF Student Financial aid web page adds $22,278 to out-of-state tuition costs for undergraduate students.
Prestige and cost kept Guillen in-state and part of the overwhelming percentage of in-state students that make up UF’s freshman classes.
“I don’t think anyone would go out of state for a college that is in equal standing but they would spend three times the amount,” Guillen said.
2012 in-state enrollment at UF: 96.43%
2017 in-state enrollment at UF: 92.08%
2014 in-state enrollment at UF online: 95.45%
2017 in-state enrollment at UF online: 91.82%
