The recruitment opportunity in higher ed for awhile has been going after kids with 1300+ SATs from families who earn pretty good money but don’t want to spend $90k/year on undergrad.
"When Alabama started going after out-of-staters, it focussed on 2 types of places ...prosperous suburbs around Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami, & LA ...also courted applicants from bedroom communities around NY, DC, Seattle, Boston, & eventually Chicago"