Jun 24, 2016 08:26 AM EDT By Vinay Patel, UniversityHerald Reporter

As a result of a long persisting assault on public higher education in the United States, public colleges and universities are often forced to deal with difficult situations every time they attempt to lift the standards of their undergraduate admissions.

In a bid to evolve as more academically selective and racially, religiously and ethnically diversified, institutions had practically given "open admissions" a shot.

However, these institutions are reportedly criticized by governors, state legislators and others for allegedly becoming uppish, Times Higher Education reported.

That being said, this dilemma is not as controversial for the supposedly uppish public schools including the University of Connecticut at Storrs, the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and the University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles. Although public, these institutes have garnered a lot a respect from their states, and are looked upon as nationally prestigious flagship campuses not to have to be concerned about being portrayed as wicked for expanding their out-of-state admissions.

Just like every other US-based public colleges and universities, they too have lost a huge chunk of their historic state legislative funding, and in order to compensate, these institutes recruit more and more out-of-state students who are willing to pay higher tuition as compared to their in-state applicant colleagues.

Just last year, the University of Massachusetts' flagship campus handed out a whopping $22 million in merit scholarship to out-of-state students. Recruiting applicants willing to pay higher tuition has been a trend among public universities across the United States, BostonGlobe reported.

According to officials, the total by far exceeds the $9.9 million in merit aid the UMass Amherst campus offered to its in-state students.

A considerable 59 percent (2,926) of the existing UMass Amherst students from outside Massachusetts were offered an average merit scholarship of $7,600, and this wasn't based on their needs but on their academic achievements.

Maine's and Massachusetts attempts to offer admissions to more and more out-of-state students have quite understandably garnered mixed reactions.

Kumble Subbaswamy, UMass Amherst chancellor simplifies the calculation - out-of-state students pay nearly twice the amount of local students, which sums up to $31,000 in annual tuition and fees - while local students, on the other hand pay about $14,000.

Even if the institute hands out a $7,600 scholarship, it's still a net positive as far as tuition revenue the school acquires from out-of-staters is concerned.

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