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Big Enrollment Numbers At Illinois State University

Illinois State University

Early enrollment numbers have Illinois State University leaders smiling.

More than 21,000 students are on campus, an increase of about three hundred, based on first day enrollment numbers.

Traditionally, ISU and other public universities in the state release firm numbers on the tenth day of the school year and more data will be released later.The entering freshman class is up by fifty. But, University Chief of Staff Jay Groves told WGLT that ISU has apparently set a twenty seven year record for Freshmen at 3,651, compared to 3,612 last academic year.

"That would make three years in a row that the university had reached freshmen enrollments above thirty  3,600 and three years in a row that our total enrollment has trended upward," said Groves.

This cuts against the general trend among Illinois Public colleges and Universities. Enrollments at Southern, Eastern, and Western Illinois Universities have all trended significantly downward. Even Missouri, long a prime competitor to ISU for graduating high school students, lost enrollment this year. Observers note some of that may reflect racially tinged incidents on the Mizzou campus.

Illinois Higher Education Institutions have also had to contend with questions about financial stability because the Governor and General Assembly have failed to pass budgets two years in a row, forcing many schools to rely on reserves, layoffs, furloughs and job cuts to keep the doors open. ISU has not had to use those measures.

This is in addition to a multi year demographic trend of smaller graduating high school numbers across the country.

"Especially given last year's political and economic climate the ability to recruit students to ISU this year has just been amazing," said Groves.

Groves said ISU has a strong brand. Ninety seven percent of students come from Illinois. Transfer student and international student numbers  are also trending up, said Groves.

Academic quality markers, diversity, and retention markers are all looking good, according to Groves, though specifics are not yet available.

Groves said they knew early on the numbers would be robust and comparable to last year, but did not realize they would go over the top.

He said it is a credit to the faculty and staff who make ISU what it is, in addition to the efforts of financial aid and admissions workers who have done the recruiting.

The University of Illinois is also bucking the trend. U of I officials report freshmen enrollment up by a dozen students to a new record, and overall enrollment up by seven hundred on the flagship Urbana campus.

WGLT Senior Reporter Charlie Schlenker has spent more than three award-winning decades in radio. He lives in Normal with his family.
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