ASU Expansion in California
Cross-state online expansion is part of a strategy - a view of the data
Phil Hill
February 04, 2026
Reminder: prices for On EdTech+ subscriptions change on March 1st. Monthly subscribers can lock in today’s pricing by switching to an annual plan.
Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Sign up, and get your own copy of the news that matters sent to your inbox every week. Sign up for the On EdTech newsletter. Interested in additional analysis? Upgrade to the On EdTech+ newsletter.
From EdSource:
Arizona State University has spent years expanding its footprint in California, with a presence in downtown Los Angeles and thousands taking online classes within the state.
But ASU faces an obstacle: access to state aid. The university’s latest bid for Cal Grants, a marquee financial aid program that awarded almost $2.5 billion to California students last year, was denied by the California Student Aid Commission in September. Officials say state law does not open the Cal Grant program to out-of-state public universities — and have firmly maintained that stance despite repeated pushback from ASU as recently as January.
The impasse shows the complexities of the behemoth public research university’s years long push into California. Its strategy is propelled by ASU leaders’ belief that their educational mission shouldn’t be limited by state boundaries — and that there are California students looking for options beyond the state’s many public and private alternatives.
This story fits in perfectly with our developing coverage of the NC-SARA data on exclusive distance education (DE) enrollments, looking at both the student state (where they reside) and the institution state (where the main campus or operation is located). This augments our IPEDS coverage which is based on institution state only.
Just how big is ASU’s online cross-state footprint in California and does this point to a broader policy debate? It would help to have better context. The chart below is designed to show not just how many California students enroll online out of state, but where that demand concentrates—by institution and by institution state.
Import, Export, and Internal Markets: What We Mean
When we look at cross-state online enrollment, it helps to borrow basic trade terminology.
Import market: Students who live in a state but enroll in out-of-state online programs. From the student’s perspective, education is being “imported” from elsewhere.
Export market: Students who live outside a state but enroll in online programs offered by institutions based in that state.
Internal market: Students who live in a state and enroll in online programs offered by in-state institutions.
California is a special case because it does not participate in SARA, so we only see its import market (California residents enrolled in out-of-state online programs), not its internal or export markets, in NC-SARA data. Therefore the firs chart cannot show whether California institutions are retaining or exporting online students—only how much California relies on imports. Indiana in the second chart, by contrast, allows us to see all three markets at once, which makes it a useful comparison.
