On a walk around any student parking lot, a quick glance at the license plates reveals that the students at the University represent a wide variety of states.

According to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, the University of Alabama’s freshman out-of-state enrollment increased by 209 students between the Fall 2010 and Fall 2011 semesters, bringing the current total of freshman students from outside of Alabama to 2,924. Of that number, 132 students were from foreign countries.

All but two of the 50 states – Montana and North Dakota – are represented in this year’s freshman class, the research said. The most out-of-state freshman students, 452, came from Georgia, with the second most, 328, hailing from Texas, according to OIRA.

The recruitment of out-of-state talent is in no small part responsible for the geographic diversity seen today on campus.

“A combination of scholarship money and the Computer-Based Honors Program influenced my decision to come to Alabama,” said A.J. Collins, a junior majoring in economics and political science and native of Amissville, Va. “I received the National Merit Scholarship. Other universities I applied to would have only given me three-quarters of tuition, so the full ride from Alabama definitely helped me make up my mind.”

The number of freshmen from Alabama decreased by 299 students, as 2,848 in-state students enrolled at UA this fall, the report said. The number of freshmen from Georgia also decreased by 117, the largest decrease among states other than Alabama.

The Fall 2011 semester saw the number of freshman students from New York more than triple, as 59 students enrolled. Sixty more freshman students from Texas enrolled, as well as 43 more students from Maryland and 41 more students from New York, the report said.

Scholarships for high SAT and ACT scores and satisfactory high school grade point averages attract elite scholars from across the country, as well as in the state of Alabama.

According to the UA Scholarships website, a Presidential Scholarship may be awarded to an incoming freshman with an ACT score of over 32 and a high school GPA of 3.5, and it covers four whole years of tuition for out-of-state students.

“UA recruits in Alabama, the Southeast and across the country,” said Mary Spiegel, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions. “With the number of high school graduates in the state of Alabama at a plateau, there has been a rise in the number of out-of-state students. We share with [both the out-of-state students] and in-state students information about the University and the quality education that they can receive.”

While the University continues to expand, it looks like out-of-state recruitment will continue to play a large part in the next generation of Alabama graduates, and recruiters will strive to deliver the best possible students to ensure the future success of the campus.