Despite rising tuition costs in Iowa, undergraduate enrollment of non-Iowa residents has remained steady and may even increase in the 2005-06 school year, university officials said.

Although the number of undergraduate applications for the coming year is about the same as it was for fall 2004, the number of nonresident undergraduate applications received so far for fall 2005 is higher now than it was at the same time last year, said Marc Harding, director of admissions.

During the last academic year, nonresident applicants accounted for 23 percent of undergraduate students, while resident applicants were 78 percent of the total, according to Board of Regents documents.

“We knew we needed to do something [to attract nonresident students],” Harding said.

He said out-of-state students are hard to attract because of higher tuition at Iowa State for out-of-state students, the in-state options in the students’ home states and the travel aspect of attending a college outside their state.

The steady number of out-of-state undergraduate students has been a result of multiple recruitment strategies. In addition to attending college fairs and sending information to potential out-of-state students, he said the admissions office created several scholarships when tuition started to rise.

Harding said the scholarships were designed to offset the price difference of in- and out-of-state tuition.

“I got offered a lot of scholarships,” said Cara Wessling, sophomore in community and regional planning from Kansas City, Mo.

She said the scholarships were a big part of her decision to attend Iowa State because of higher tuition costs. Another reason she chose Iowa State, she said, was because the school has a good reputation for her desired field of study.

Harding said he thinks a reason nonresident students continue to attend Iowa State is because of the quality of academic programs.

“They are willing to pay the price to come to a quality institution,” he said.

Once she showed interest, Wessling said she received mailings and phone calls frequently.

Creating a relationship with potential students is an important part of recruiting, Harding said.

According to the Iowa Department of Education, there will be 1,313 fewer graduating high school seniors from both public and private institutions for the 2004-05 academic year.

The resulting smaller pool of potential applicants has resulted in “ramped up” resident undergraduate recruitment, Harding said.

There is also a changing pattern of student interests that affects Iowa State’s undergraduate admissions.

“The number of students interested in agriculture is down dramatically,” Harding said.

Declining enrollment in agriculture at Iowa State reflects the lack of interest in agriculture nationally, Harding said.