From an analysis of the geographical distribution by divisions of the student body of several eastern universities for the year 1911-12, exclusive of summer sessions, it is found that Harvard, Columbia, and Pennsylvania each lead in two divisions and Cornell in one division. If, however, the representatives are taken by states and ties are counted in fractions it is found that Harvard leads in 20 2-3 states of the Union, Columbia in 12 5-6, Yale in 4 2-3, Pennsylvania in 4, and Princeton in 1-3.
In view of the remarkable growth and prosperity which nearly all the universities of the West have enjoyed during the past decade, it is of interest to note that the eastern universities have nevertheless increased at a more rapid rate in the divisions outside those in which they are located than in their own divisions. A further proof of the more local nature of the western institutions is found in a comparison of the position which state representation occupies in relation to total enrollment in both the eastern and western universities. For example, the largest percentage among the eastern universities of enrollment from its own state over total registration, namely 67 per cent., is found at the University of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is followed by Columbia with 62 per cent. of its students coming from New York, Cornell with 55 per cent. of its students coming from the same state; Harvard with 50 per cent. of its student body residing in Massachusetts; Yale with 55 per cent. of its students hailing from Connecticut; and finally Princeton with only 21 per cent. of its student body residing in the state of New Jersey.
If we compare these figures with similar ones for the large western universities, we find that the student clientele of the latter, with the exception of the University of Michigan, is much more local in character. The following figures represent the percentage of the student body in six large universities which claim the state in which the institution is located as their permanent home: Minnesota, 94 per cent.; California, 88 per cent.; Stanford, 78 per cent.; Illinois, 77 per cent.; Wisconsin, 75 per cent.; and Michigan, 53 per cent.
The girls' colleges are, on the whole, extremely national in character, the percentages for the more prominent institutions being as follows: Mount Holyoke, 34; Vassar, 34; Bryn Mawr, 32; Wellesley, 29, and Smith, 24.
It thus appears that the representative eastern universities are continuing to grow more and more national in character, that the state universities of the West, with the sole exception of Michigan, are much more local, that the same is true to an even greater degree of the southern universities, and, lastly, that the foreign delegations at our higher institutions of learning are constantly on the increase.