At a public state university, the assumption is often that the majority of students call that state home. However, last month a USA Today article reported that for some state schools, up to 70 percent of students are out-of-state residents.

At Penn State, the majority of students are still Pennsylvania residents, said Randall C. Deike, associate vice president for enrollment management and executive director for undergraduate admission.

"University-wide, approximately 75 percent of students are in-state students and only 25 percent are out-of-state students," he said.

The article in USA Today attributes high out-of-state admissions to the state's size and financial condition.

Smaller states, such as the University of Vermont, which has a freshman class comprised of 72 percent out-of-state first-year students, and the University of Delaware, which has more than 60 percent of out-of-state freshmen, have a harder time filling their classrooms with local students.

Deike said Penn State does not have that problem.

"Pennsylvania colleges have the availability to fill a class of Pennsylvania students. Vermont can't do that," he said.

Since Penn State is a land-grant university, it is committed to providing access to education to Pennsylvania students, Deike said.

Because of its size, Penn State can also provide that access to out-of-state students as well.

"If more non-Pennsylvania resident students enrolled than Pennsylvania residents, then it would go against our land-grant mission," Deike said, "but I don't think that will happen."

He added that Penn State's out-of-state student enrollment has increased slightly in the past few years because of "active" recruitment.

Erin Shields came to Penn State from Maryland based on education rather than location.

"Penn State had a strong journalism program so that's why I came here," Shields (freshman-journalism) said.

At the branch campuses, the freshman baccalaureate admission rate for Pennsylvania resident students is 86 percent and for non-Pennsylvania applicants, it is 82 percent, he said.

For University Park, the admission rate for in-state students is 60 percent, while 57 percent of out-of-state applicants are accepted.

Deike said an advantage to having out-of-state students is to add diversity to the educational culture at Penn State.

He added that diversity also comes from in-state students because of those who live in rural communities and big cities.

Rebecca Isham (sophomore-animal science) said in-state students should be given priority.

"...It is their state school. Every state has their own," she said.

Other students, like Randy Bainey (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies) said it should be based on merit rather than location.

"You should work just as hard to get in, wherever you are from."