MSU stands above the average percentage of in-state students admitted by other Big Ten universities, which currently falls at 65 percent.

Director of Admissions Jim Cotter said MSU historically has been a university that enrolls more students from Michigan than from other states or countries. He said the MSU president and provost are committed to keeping the in-state enrollment high.

Cotter said MSU’s high in-state enrollment could be a result of the university’s many opportunities, such as the variety of degrees offered and the array of study abroad programs available, as well as because MSU is a land-grant institution.

This fall, specifically, 75 percent of 9,650 incoming and transfer students are Michigan residents.

Cotter said about 18,000 students have already applied for fall 2013, as of Wednesday, and 14,000 of those applicants are from all areas of Michigan.

“Much of our mission is to serve the state of Michigan,” Cotter said. “There’s clearly a relationship between (MSU) and the citizens of Michigan.”

Provost Kim A. Wilcox said at the last University Council meeting that although MSU has increased the number of in-state students, the international population has increased at other Big Ten universities.

“We are at the upper range of international (student enrollment), but not the top of international,” Wilcox said.

As a Michigan resident, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities and communication junior Kelly Squiers said she chose to attend MSU because it was one of the better schools in the state and she wanted to stay in Michigan. She said she is indifferent about whether she thinks enrolling more in-state students is good or bad.

“It would be good to have a lot of diversity, but it’s also good to have a lot of people represented from the state (of Michigan),” Squiers said.