Institutional focus and non-resident student enrollment

Purpose - This paper uses institutional characteristics and regional economic data to determine if institutional mission may help drive non-resident undergraduate enrollment. Design/methodology/approach - A two-stage least squares regression models is employed on 180 Doctoral, 333 Comprehensive, and 501 Baccalaureate higher education institutions to determine if there is a correlation between non-resident enrollment and tuition for each of the separate mission-based classifications. Findings - The study finds a significant positive correlation between non-resident undergraduate enrollment and tuition for both doctoral and baccalaureate institutions. There is no significant correlation between non-resident enrollment and tuition for comprehensive institutions. Research limitations/implications - Suggests that non-resident undergraduate students are attracted to both larger flagship institutions, as well as to smaller institutions that are almost entirely focused on undergraduate instruction. Comprehensive institutions do not generally experience this phenomenon; however, the more selective schools within this category are also attractive to non-resident students. Originality/value - Attracting non-resident students is an important issue for a higher education institution. This research article presents tantalizing evidence that institutional mission may be a factor in non-resident enrollment. This may allow a higher education institution to garner excess returns when pricing non-resident tuition, and in addition it may allow for some leeway in pricing resident tuition.