The Universities only care about money. Out of staters have more of it, and pay out of state tuition which is more than triple the in-state rate.
Alabama, Ole Miss, Auburn are all majority out of staters now. It’s sad. When I was in college the vast majority were from towns like Athens, Montgomery, Luverne, Demopolis etc.
The out of staters graduate and move to Atlanta, Nashville etc.
Last stats I saw had a total enrollment of 26k at AU. Almost 18k was from Alabama.
