EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan State University has received a record number of applications, including an increase from beyond the state’s boundaries.
The East Lansing school’s 33,172 undergraduate applications are up about 5 percent from the previous year. Out-of-state applications increased 12 percent, the Lansing State Journal reported (https://on.lsj.com/1hqmyAx ) Sunday.
Officials say they have boosted the number of recruiters focused on out-of-state students. They studied demographics and recognized the number of new high school graduates in Michigan would be down into the 2020s.
Michigan State launched pilot recruitment projects in 2009 in selected Ohio school districts.
The university’s number of international undergraduates has quadrupled in the past decade. As recently as 2003, 19 out of every 20 undergraduates at the school came from Michigan.
“For many years, we were very Michigan-centric,” said Jim Cotter, the university’s director of admissions. “We knew that the Michigan State brand was very, very well recognized across the state of Michigan. However, I’m not as certain that it was as recognized in California, New York and New Jersey.”
Cotter said he expects to have an incoming freshman class of about 7,800, which would include about 70 percent in-state students.
A recruiter from Michigan State’s College Assistance Migrant Program Scholars Initiative got Pamela Alvarez to consider the university, and she’s been accepted. The 17-year-old from Brownsville, Texas, also will benefit from a lower tuition as part of the program, as well as grants and scholarships.
She will be the first person in her family of migrant workers to attend college.
“College has always been a thing of luxury that we simply cannot afford,” she said. “I knew I wanted something better for myself, and I knew I had to leave Brownsville … to find it.”
___
Information from: Lansing State Journal, https://www.lansingstatejournal.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.