Coming from Near and Especially Far
By Olivia Turnage
Maggie Sohmer, a senior from Houston, Texas, described her college admissions experience as “unique” when asked how she decided to come to the University of Georgia from out-of-state.
UGA is particularly set on attracting out-of-state students like Sohmer. Their numbers are growing year after year at the university.
Four years ago, Sohmer remembers applying to multiple schools across the country: University of California at Los Angeles, University of Texas, Texas A&M, University of North Carolina and, of course the, University of Georgia.
Sohmer experienced UGA’s increased efforts to attract out of state high schoolers first hand. UGA has 17 admissions counselors that are in charge of recruiting students, relaying university material and messages to high school college counselors, and marketing the school. Of these 17 counselors, 13 concentrate on attracting out-of-state students, meaning they are assigned to recruiting students outside of Georgia.
Sohmer said she was offered admission to all of the schools she applied to, but she chose UGA because of their unique recruitment process and particular interest in other students from her high school in Houston.
“I remember a representative from UGA came to my high school and it was just made a huge deal,” Sohmer said.“My college counselor at school was really excited about the UGA rep coming so she excused all of the seniors and juniors from class so we could go hear what he had to say.”
Now, that she is a few years older and wiser, she said, it is apparent that the UGA rep was definitely marketing to students at her high school through her college counselor as well, making UGA that much more on her mind since the same message was also coming from a person she trusted to help her make the choice of which college to attend.
In recent years, the UGA Admissions Department has taken the out-of-state recruitment process further. UGA Undergraduate Admissions Officer Logan Chase Leggett said the University of Georgia has permanently placed regional counselors in Texas and the Washington D.C. area to be more accessible in addition to the admissions counselors stationed in Athens.
“UGA had jumped on that bandwagon,” said Leggett.“UGA is not necessarily offering new and cool things, it is just that they are being more intentional about their recruiting efforts.”
UGA’s recruiting efforts like staying in touch with out-of-state students kept Maggie Sohmer interested: “Once I expressed interest at that initial meeting [at my high school], I received emails from the rep that weren’t automated or anything. it really made me feel like they wanted me at their school.”
Sohmer said that little details in the college recruiting process from a school as big at UGA really meant something to her and, ultimately, had a large hand in why she chose to come to Athens for school over her home state university in Austin, Texas.
Data from the UGA Admissions website page shows that there is a $20,000 difference in tuition between in state and out of state students. Leggett also said that there are virtually no out-of-state scholarships funded by the university awarded to students, meaning that with nearly every out-of-state student admitted, UGA pockets all of their $31,000 in tuition and fees.
But not all out-of-state students pay the full $31,000. Many students, in-state and out-of -tate, receive funding from third-party scholarships andloans and financial assistance from organizations like FAFSA.
11% of UGA’s total undergraduate enrollment comes from out-of-state students. North Carolina leads the pack among most students coming in to Georgia, followed closely by Texas and Virginia, according to the UGA Office of Institutional Research. Almost every state saw their numbers rise from 2016–2018. Some are growing more rapidly than others: Tennessee saw nearly 100 more undergraduate students enrolled in 2018 than they did in 2016.
However, UGA did received 30% more applications in the 2018 application cycle than the year before. UGA continues to admit more students each year, which is evident from booming construction and dwindling parking spaces on campus. This can be credited to this to UGA’s growing name recognition from the football program, especially following the 2018 appearance in the College Football Playoffs. This increase in overall application numbers also inflates the out of state applicant numbers as well.
It is worth noting that, overall, more high school students around the country are going out of state than ever before. This can definitely be accredited to various marketing strategies made popular in recent years and college enrollment numbers in general are at an all-time high. Take the Northeast for example; according to an article from the Washington Post published in 2014, the majority of rising college freshman from the New England area leave to go to college down South or to the West, traveling an average for 526.
Nationwide, 72% of rising college freshman are staying within their home states and the Washington Post predicts that number to decrease with every passing year. While UGA is below the nationwide average of 28% out of state student in their enrollment makeup, it is important to consider that they are a public school competing with other flagship universities. The UGA Visitors Center stays busy year-round from increased traffic accommodating tour requests from eager families that may have traveled from Augusta or Annapolis, Maryland.
Senior Tour Guide Lyndy Hawk from Charlotte, North Carolina says that the Visitor Center has had an “unreal” increase in out of state students coming through the Visitors Center for tours. “For me being out of state myself, I always love to see someone from some place new. I cannot believe the increase of out of state students from when I was a freshman to now. I just feel like everyone just used to be from a suburb from Atlanta. Now there is so much more diversity from where people are from.”
This nationwide trend has certainly made its way to Athens, and UGA has put their own spin on it. So far it seems as though the various offices from around the University of Georgia campus have been working together successfully to gather as many students, and tuition money, as they can.
