re: Why does University of Alabama have so many out of state students?

That was one of the reasons I chose to go elsewhere. UGA was always my 1st choice (home state, went to undergrad there, etc.) unless I got into Vandy. Bama threw more than enough $$$ at me to make it interesting. I was honestly set on going to Bama at one point and decided to stick with a significantly lower scholarship offer from UGA. The day after I paid my deposit to UGA, Vandy sends me a "you've been wait listed" letter that asked for a letter of continued interest. Would have been extremely expensive to go there had I been admitted, and I probably wouldn't have been admitted anyway.