The University of Alaska Southeast has more than doubled the number of states nonresident students are coming from.
“This year, we are welcoming students from nearly 30 different states,” UAS Chancellor Aparna Palmer said during an interview on KTOO’s Juneau Afternoon on Thursday. “Last year, 11 states. This year, 29 states.”
Palmer credits those numbers to the school’s new tuition policy and targeted recruitment.
UAS dropped out-of-state tuition and began offering in-state tuition rates to all students starting this fall semester. The effort, called Alaska Unlocked, is an investment in drawing more people to the state and bolster enrollment.
This year, the school is seeing an estimated 36% increase in out-of-state enrollment compared to last year, the Alaska Beacon reports. The rest of the University of Alaska system will drop out-of-state tuition next fall.
In addition to the new tuition policy, Palmer said UAS got support from the Board of Regents and the Education Trust of Alaska to recruit in target states like Colorado, Minnesota and Idaho. That’s in addition to Washington state, which UAS has continually recruited in.
Palmer said students from these states in particular tend to stay in Alaska and are part of UAS graduates who join the workforce.
“Last year… 87% of our students, when they graduate, stay in Alaska and are employed in Alaska within one year of graduation,” she said.
She added that nonresident students are more likely to be traditional-age college students.
“So these are students who come, they live in the dorms, they live on campus, they participate in campus activities and they tend to take more credits per semester,” Palmer said.
That’s compared to the majority of students, who come from in-state. They’re mostly part-time students, work in the community and have families. The average age of UAS students is 30 years old. Palmer said the number of new UAS students from in-state increased as well.
Classes at UAS started Aug. 24. The school is still accepting enrollment online and in-person through Aug. 28, and with professor permission starting next week. UAS also offers some courses, like in Career Education and Northwest Coast Arts, that begin later in the semester.
The University of Alaska Board of Regents is meeting in committees and as a full board in Juneau on Wednesday and Thursday.
