ANN ARBOR, MI – Even as enrollment at the University of Michigan continues to grow, the state’s largest university is accepting fewer Michigan students.
In 2014, 60% of Ann Arbor University’s freshmen were from the school’s home state. As data from the university shows, that number has dropped to just 46% of freshmen from the state in the fall 2024 semester.
The total number of students enrolled in the state has also dropped by several percentage points. Data fluctuations over the past decade show a demographic shift on the Ann Arbor campus.
Yaya Fofana, a third-year economics student living in New Jersey, said he chose the university because of the Ross School of Business and its strong national reputation.
“When I met with (other university students), they said Michigan is a pretty diverse school,” Fofana said. “The school’s evolution is only increasing in terms of accepting more kids from out of state and from abroad.”
In 2022, UM’s first-year student population exceeded 50% out-of-state students for the first time, and that number has only increased since then.
The increase from other states is proportional to the growth of the new cohorts, said university spokeswoman Colleen Mastony at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. The number of applications from prospective students from other states has also increased by 40% in the last five years, she said.
This is also because fewer and fewer students in Michigan have been graduating from high school since 2008, Mastony said. The university estimates that by 2030, the number of graduates from public high schools in Michigan will decline by 17% since 2008.
Since the 1980s, Michigan’s population growth has lagged behind the rest of the country. It ranks 49th among U.S. states in growth since 2020, according to a December 2023 report, and its population is aging.
Between 1980 and 2020, Michigan’s population aged 19 and under and between the ages of 20 and 34 declined by 22 and 18 percent, respectively, according to the report, which cites U.S. Census figures and was compiled for Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and state lawmakers.
“UM has been preparing for this ‘enrollment dip’ for more than two decades, recognizing the need to ensure our strength and market presence,” Mastony said.
Although the number of in-state students is shrinking, all 83 Michigan counties are represented in the student body, she said. The fact that the number of out-of-state students has increased does not mean the university has prioritized admitting more non-Michigans, she said.
“The university is working to balance the tremendous demand from out-of-state and international applicants with its commitment to the people of Michigan,” Mastony said.
There were a record 105,000 applications for the fall 2024 semester, university data shows, despite the university’s acceptance rate for the 2022-23 cycle dropping to 17.7%.
All 50 states are represented at the university, but a large portion of the university’s student body comes from three states. More than 7,700 of the university’s more than 52,000 students come to the Ann Arbor campus from California, Illinois, and New York, all of which are some of the most populous states in the United States.
“What I notice when I deal with kids from other states is that they usually come from the same few states,” Fofana said.
Texas and Alabama saw the largest increases in enrollment in 2024. In contrast, Ohio’s number of admitted residents fell by nearly 13%. Ohio was one of only six states to see a decline in representation.
There are also more international students at the university. Since 2014, the number of non-American students enrolled has increased by 3%. In 2022, students came from 99 countries.
Dani Bitar, 21, is a British citizen. He crossed the ocean to attend universities such as New York University, George Washington University and other top universities, but ended up in Michigan because of the university’s athletic and academic programs.
“Many graduates have gone on to great things from Michigan,” Bitar said.
But Bitar said UM could do more to financially support international and out-of-state students. According to the university, Michigan-based students pay an estimated $35,450 per year. Non-Michigan students pay more than double that — $76,294 per year.
“For foreign kids, it’s like, ‘Why should I spend $70,000 to go to Michigan when I can go to school in the UK for $5,000 to $10,000?'” Bitar said.
Financial commitments such as the Go Blue Guarantee, which promises free tuition to domestic students from families with assets and incomes of $75,000 or less, show how the university appeals to domestic students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, Mastony said.
The university continues to recruit in the state of Michigan, Mastony said, adding that university recruiters attended 173 college fairs and 759 in-person visits to high schools in the fall and more than 1,000 high schools by the end of the season.
“The university’s commitment to students from the state is strong,” she said.
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