<p>Not to ruin a good boredom-chasing hunt, but I was recently at a presentation involving a study of public institutions. The researchers were looking at 473 state schools, and they found that on average they enrolled only 14.4% nonresident undergrads. </p>
<p>There are some unusual cases, like New Hampshire which has less than 60% in state, but also a lot of institutions which attract few nonresidents (like regional campuses) or are restricted by legislative decree from enrolling more than a set percentage.</p>
<p>I think that UDel might be just under 50% instate–but that’s definitely an exception. I believe that’s lowest for a flagship, and I can’t imagine any non-flagships going much (or any) lower.</p>
<p>“I would certainly hope that a state U that say, receives 25% of their funding from the state has a student body that is at least 25% in-state”</p>
<p>Actually it would be a very rare state flagship if any that went as high as 25% out of state for udergrad admissions. Generally the number has to be approved by the state legislature and I think you will find it is usually in the 10-20% range.</p>
<p>The funding is also complicated by the fact that all those big buildings are built with state bonds and the capital budget might be a lot different from the operating budget. Then there is the fact that any big research university ought to be bringing in private and public (mostly federal) grant and research funding by the ton. Also hospital funding and the medical practices associated with them are another huge revenue stream and we haven’t even touched on the atheletic departments which can be spending scores of millions of dollars.</p>
<p>Basically Big State U like most major private research universities is very much a conglomerate and ought to be generating a very hefty chunk of its operating revenues itself. If you were to take University of Michigan and pull out just the undergraduate teaching expenditures it probably is only 25% of the total overhead. It is all those research labs, hospitals, and semi-pro sports franchises that represent the bulk of the outlays.</p>
<p>Many of those big buildings are now built with lots of private funds. Of the last 10 major buildings built at Wisconsin virtually every one had at least half private donation funding. UM is much the same. UVa uses mostly private funding and student tuition revenues.
From UW funding manual</p>
<p>“Over the last five biennia, the University has witnessed an increased need to develop
and rely on non-state sources of funding for its major capital projects. Funding from
private sources, in the form of gifts and grants, federal grant programs and revenues
generated from auxiliary program activities have replaced, to a greater and greater
extent, the State’s Capital Program Budget as the University’s primary funding source.
The 2005-07 capital budget resulted in approximately $150 million in GFSB for major
projects across the UW-System and another $128 million of all-agency funds for
maintenance repair and renovations. As part of the capital budget process, DSF staff
presented the State Building Commission with a six year plan for GFSB-funded major
projects, which included specific enumerations for the 2005-07 biennium and some
advance enumerations for the 2007-09 and 2009-11 biennia.
Budget instructions for the 2007-09 budget, which is currently under review by DOA/DSF
staff, stated that given continuing state budget pressure, it was unlikely that projects not
already included in the six year plan presented in 2005-07 would be included in the
2007-09 budget.
Notwithstanding these cautions, it is incumbent upon the UW-Madison to continue to
document its facilities needs even in stringent financial times. In addition, the success
rate for moving any proposed capital project forward is dependent upon the number and
quality of arguments that can be developed in its support. In addition, the importance of
program funding, donor support, or other funding streams, in whole or in part, cannot be
overlooked. Projects with outside funding have a better chance of being approved than
those lacking any private support.”</p>