URBANA – One quarter of undergraduate students at the University of Illinois' flagship campus are from out of state, a departure from years past when university officials pledged to limit enrollment of non-Illinois residents, according to a published report on Sunday.

The change comes as the enrollment of international students has skyrocketed and just six years after a plan to boost out-of-state numbers was met with so much public outcry that university officials scrapped the idea.

The Chicago Tribune reported in its Sunday editions that the policy shift is expected to continue in the future to help the university. Out-of-state students pay more in tuition and international students also pay thousands more on top of that in a surcharge.