UT-Austin keeps a large share of Texans
Flagship university one of few in nation with big percentage
The University of Texas at Austin is an outlier among state flagships around the country — nearly 90 percent of its students are from within the state.
A new Washington Post analysis found that just 11 flagships nationally had more than 75 percent of its freshmen come from the university’s home states in 2016.
The University of Alabama, for example, had in-state students comprise 32 percent of its freshmen class. At the University of Michigan, that figure was 51 percent.
Texas’ figure, which the Post cited at 88 percent, was the second highest in the publication’s ranking. (A UT-Austin spokesman said the university has that figure at 89.8 percent.) The University of Alaska at Fairbanks edged out the Longhorns in The Post’s ranking with 89 percent.
At the vast majority of universities, the percentage of instate students has declined since 2006, according to The Post.
By state law, UT-Austin fills three-quarters of its incoming class automatically with students who graduate at the top sliver of their high-school classes. That threshold for fall 2019 will be the top 6 percent.
UT officials have questioned that law in recent years. University of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven said in an interview with the Texas Tribune last summer that top high school candidates outside of the automatic admission threshold who aren’t admitted through the program can decide to go to college in other states, he said.
“We see a little bit of a brain drain from some of our high school candidates who decide to go elsewhere,” he said, saying UT-Austin could increase its share by about 5 percent.
As the Post’s Nick Anderson writes, out-of-state students can bring diverse life experiences and needed out-of-state tuition dollars in states with declining or stagnant populations.
“But there are drawbacks,” he wrote. “Politically, it can be risky for prestigious schools to be perceived as giving too many seats to outsiders. And out-ofstate students are often wealthier than those from in-state, which can hinder efforts to foster socioeconomic diversity on campuses.”
UT-Austin President Greg Fenves said in a legislative hearing last year that the number of students applying to UTAustin who do not qualify as automatic admissions has grown to about 21,000 from 14,000 — for about 3,300 spots — since 2009.
Several lawmakers support the law because of its perceived ability to diversify UT-Austin’s incoming classes. In 2016, the percentage of UT-Austin enrolled students who are Hispanic, for example, was much higher among automatic admits than for the students accepted outside that state law.