Year In-state Out-of-state 09-10 8,706 22,278 08-09 8,679 21,918 07-08 8,676 21,285 06-07 8,667 20,562 05-06 8,082 19,305 04-05 7,542 18,129 03-04 6,651 16,638 02-03 5,691 15,114 01-02 4,788 13,554 00-01 4,383 12,732 99-00 4,134 12,087 98-99 3,906 11,475 97-98 3,677 10,869 96-97 3,468 10,335 95-96 3,273 9,813 94-95 3,087 9,315 93-94 2,940 8,871 92-93 2,799 8,292 91-92 2,568 7,689 90-91 2,343 6,942
Historial note: Tuition in 1874/5: student assessed an incidental fee of $5 per term or $15 per year; that fee continued for decades. As late as 1980 OSU tuition was $370 a quarter. OSU was expected to pay operating expenses from endowment revenue of the original Morrill Land grant act to Ohio and from rentals from land in the Virginia Military District (SE Ohio) that the state had transferred to OSU.
In 1881 state legislature passed Hysell Act that provided for a special state tax levy in support of OSU. Bonds issued by OSU using levy as security built Hayes and Orton Halls. In 1913 levy replaced by an annual subsidy. Ad hoc state appropriations provided building such as Mining Engineering building (Lord Hall). Finally in 1891 President William O. Thompson (while president at Miami) engineered state support for Miami and OSU.