Freshmen set in-state records

The term “increasingly Hoosier” creates different thoughts for different students.

However, to the admissions department, “increasingly Hoosier” refers to the record number of in-state students in this year’s freshman class – some 4,679 in total.

The increase of native Hoosiers coming to IU is part of a push by the University to get the best of Indiana’s students.

“We have done well with out-of-state students electing to enroll,” said Roger Thompson, vice provost for enrollment management.

Freshmen Ella Hartley and Jamie Becker said they are happy IU is going after Indiana’s best students as long as that effort doesn’t distract IU from seeking diversity.

“I understand why they would want to keep it more in-state: There is kind of that state pride,” said Hartley, a Maryland native. “But at the same time, you need a certain amount of diversity.”

Unlike Hartley, Becker is an in-state student and said with scholarships and in-state tuition, the decision to come to IU was an easy one.

“I think if they want the crème de la crème, I think that’s good,” Becker said. “Because then you are getting the brightest in Indiana to come to the state school, and they are most likely to give back to Indiana. But if you get an ambitious New Yorker who comes to the Kelley School, then they are just going to go back to Wall Street and not give back as much.”

The University has always enrolled more in-state students than the state has funded it for, but recently IU has had new marketing strategies with “very personalized and customized information” meant to attract in-state students, Thompson said.

“It would be less than accurate to say we haven’t focused our efforts on in-state students,” Thompson said.

The Adam W. Herbert Presidential scholarship program is one way IU is attracting the brightest young Hoosiers to its campuses in this year’s freshman class and encouraging them to stay in Indiana after graduation. The program named 70 students as recipients of the scholarship, the highest total since the program began.

Thompson said the University’s admission and enrollment teams have been proactive in seeking in-state students.

“We are always looking to get the best and brightest students from the state of Indiana,” he said. “I have always said we need to recruit in our own backyard effectively, and then move out from there. We are Indiana’s flagship institution.”