College admissions officials say goal is to recruit students who pay more

Admissions officers say one of their main goals for the next few years is to recruit students who pay more in tuition, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education survey of 462 top admissions officials at nonprofit universities.

Survey respondents said they placed a higher priority on recruiting out-of-state students--who would pay higher tuitions than their in-state counterparts do--than on increasing aid to low-and middle-income students. A third of all admissions officers also listed recruiting international students--who also tend to pay more--as a key goal.

Meanwhile, 16 percent of admissions officers at public four-year colleges and 31 percent at private colleges said they are paying "more attention" to applicants who don't need financial aid--or "full pay" students, in the jargon of the industry. Ten percent of officials at four-year colleges said the full pay students they had recruited made lower grades and scored worse on tests than their other admitted students.