Danielle Hawkins, an LSU admissions counselor, asked a group of about 40 middle and high schoolers this week how many had been to a Mardi Gras parade. Only a few hands went up. “OK, a couple,” she said brightly. “Look at y’all!” The students had come from Tampa to tour the Baton Rouge campus. Hawkins, who frequently travels to New Jersey and Pennsylvania to recruit, gave a presentation then introduced their tour guide: an LSU junior from Houston. As the Florida students shuffled across the sprawling campus, where 4 in 10 freshmen come from out of state, 10th-grader Ah’Yanna Maultsby liked what she saw. “It feels like I actually could belong here,” she said.
Prospective students from Tampa, Florida, walk by Memorial Tower during a guided tour at LSU on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Louisiana's flagship public university, LSU has become a magnet for out-of-state students. Its steady expansion, to more than 34,000 undergrads last fall, has been driven almost entirely by students coming from outside Louisiana. Over the past decade, the number of undergrads from other states has nearly tripled, exceeding 12,000 students in 2024,
according to LSU fall enrollment data that includes online and campus students. By contrast, the number of Louisiana undergrads inched up only 2%, to about 20,300 students. The swelling ranks of students from outside Louisiana — including nearby states like Florida and Georgia as well as distant ones like California, Illinois and Maryland — is no accident. Like other public universities, LSU has ramped up out-of-state recruitment to broaden its pool of high-achieving applicants, raise revenue and boost the school’s national profile. "I told the team when I first arrived, 'Find the best students in the state of Louisiana and find the best students outside the state of Louisiana and bring them here,'" William Tate IV, LSU's president since 2021,
said in an interview last year . "Whoever you are, if you're really good, you're welcome." In this regard, LSU is playing catch-up with its competitors, including the University of Alabama and Ole Miss, where more than 60% of freshmen come from other states. Those schools recruit aggressively: One Alabama recruiter lives in St. Tammany Parish and regularly visits the local high schools. The rise of out-of-staters at LSU has drawn scrutiny from some state lawmakers who question whether the university is doing everything possible to keep Louisiana’s top talent in state, and whether taxpayers win if many out-of-state students return home after graduation. “So then the flagship university of the state of Louisiana,” said state Rep. Kim Carver, R-Mandeville, “is producing the quality workforce for all of these other states.”
Cross-country recruiting
Out-of-state students, who pay significantly higher tuition than state residents, are a coveted commodity for public universities squeezed by
declining enrollment and state funding cuts. “Quite honestly, it would be professional malpractice for your admissions office not to be doing this,” said Michael S. Harris, a professor of higher education at Southern Methodist University. Schools that aren't pursuing those students are "leaving money on the table.” The University of Alabama was one of the first state schools
to recruit nationally , borrowing from the playbooks of elite private institutions. By 2014, about 64% of its freshmen came from outside Alabama. Danny Barrow, LSU’s vice president of enrollment and student success, said that 17% of incoming Baton Rouge freshmen were from other states when he arrived in 2017. That percentage was “wildly off” from other Southeastern Conference schools, he told lawmakers in October. By 2024, LSU had raised it to 40%. The university uses data-driven recruitment, targeting specific schools in key markets, officials say. Big states with an excess of students are a particular focus. LSU's incoming class last fall included about 1,000 Texans, more than double the number in 2017, Barrow said. LSU admissions counselors spend much of the fall traversing Louisiana and other states, attending up to 20 recruitment events a week. This month and next, LSU reps are meeting admitted students in cities across the country, from San Francisco to Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta. Recruiters tout the university’s research prowess and more than 300 academic programs. The school culture is an equally big draw, with over 400 student organizations, Greek life and football Saturdays.
Genevieve O’Connell, right, at an LSU football game with her mother, Sister O'Connell. “It's kind of the epitome of what I feel like a southern college experience should feel like,” said Genevieve O’Connell, a high school senior in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida who’s heading to LSU this fall. “It's like a work-hard, play-hard situation.” Like
other southern universities , LSU has seen a surge of interest from students in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Over the past decade, the number of LSU freshmen from New York has grown eightfold, the New Jersey contingent grew sevenfold and the Maryland crew quadrupled, according to federal data. Many are enticed by the warm weather, the lavish amenities (including
a massive recreation center with a climbing wall and LSU-shaped “leisure river”) and the price. The cost to attend public universities in the South tends to be lower than in other regions, and LSU’s roughly $29,000 per year in out-of-state
tuition and fees is cheaper than some other southern flagships.
The university's recreation center includes a pool, or "leisure river," that spells out LSU. “Really, for what it is that they offer,” said Rhonda Lewis, a Maryland parent whose son Ahmad will attend LSU this fall, “it's a pretty good bargain.” LSU also offers merit scholarships to high-achieving students from other states. Brenda Fay, whose family lives in Florida, said LSU offered her son Tanner $86,000 over four years. “I was impressed,” she said. “They put their money where their mouth is.” Even with the scholarships, out-of-state students still pay more than Louisiana students and earn LSU revenue, officials say. They also bring geographic diversity, expand the alumni network, elevate LSU’s national standing and contribute to Louisiana’s economy, Barrow added. "LSU’s investments in both in-state and out-of-state talent are paying off, strengthening the academic profile of the university and ensuring long-term benefits for Louisiana," he said in a statement, adding that LSU is the state's top industry "for in-migration and helping Louisiana grow."
Competing for Louisiana's best and brightest
Public universities, which receive state tax dollars, were founded to educate their states’ citizens. But the influx of out-of-state students has sometimes sparked concern that fewer seats and scholarships will be available to state residents. “There is some research suggesting that, at least at some public flagships, they've effectively crowded out some in-state students and replaced them with out-of-state students,” said Robert Kelchen, an education professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He said that is less of a concern at schools that expanded enrollment by adding students from both groups. His university recently
guaranteed admission to any high-performing Tennessee student and set a goal that
two-thirds of freshmen would come from within the state. The University of North Carolina system has long capped the share of out-of-state freshmen at 18% on most campuses. Now, LSU is starting to face questions about its out-of-state enrollment boom.
Prospective students walk through LSU’s campus during a guided tour on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Costs are one concern. In 2024, LSU gave about $80 million in scholarships to out-of-state students, including some graduate students who support faculty with research. “I want to see the math that shows where it’s good for us to spend THAT much on students who aren’t from Louisiana,” state Rep. Charles Owen, R-Rosepine,
wrote in an online essay last month. Another question is whether LSU is doing enough to woo Louisiana’s top students. At a February hearing, some lawmakers said universities in other states promote
scholarships that students automatically qualify for based on their grades and test scores, but LSU does not. At LSU, “it’s unpredictable,” said state Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie, adding that LSU often doesn’t send award letters until the spring of students’ senior year. “I promise you by that time it’s too late — those students are going to other schools.” Tobey Mitchell is a senior at Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies, a Jefferson Parish magnet school, hoping to study construction management in college. A high-achiever, he was recently offered a full ride, including room and board, to the University of Southern Mississippi.
Tobey Mitchell is a senior at Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies in Jefferson Parish. He’s also considering LSU, where he was admitted to the honors college and participated in a summer research program. But he said that even with TOPS, Louisiana’s scholarship program for state residents, and the aid LSU has offered him so far, Southern Miss would cost less. LSU “offered me some,” he said, “just not enough.” Christian Monson, principal of Mandeville High School in St. Tammany Parish, watches colleges compete for his top students. Recently, the president of Southern Miss personally visited the school to meet students, and the University of Alabama recruiter who lives nearby is a frequent visitor. He said LSU also sends recruiters, but some universities offer more money. “There's really, really strong kids that are leaving our state,” he said. “They considered LSU, but they chose to go to another school because there were better incentives to go out of state.” LSU officials say the university is deeply committed to educating Louisiana students. LSU recruits in every parish and fundraises to offer Louisiana students need-based and merit scholarships to supplement TOPS, said Barrow, the enrollment official. He added that the number of top Louisiana students who get admitted to LSU but enroll elsewhere has gone down, while the number of in-state freshmen has grown 18% since 2017. LSU's "mission is to identify, recruit, and build meaningful relationships with Louisiana’s best and brightest," he said. Hawkins, the admissions counselor, is responsible for recruiting Louisiana students along with those in other states. This week, after welcoming the Tampa group, she and a colleague met with two Baton Rouge students. “As the flagship, in-state students are still the priority for us,” she said. “We want to keep all that wonderful talent in state.”
