The University of Illinois took an unusual step this year to increase its in-state enrollment, accepting students with lower entrance-exam scores to enroll while increasing financial aid by several million dollars.
The moves worked. In-state enrollment jumped by 11 percent, to 5,490 from 4,927 a year earlier. The average ACT score for freshmen dropped by less than a point for in-state students at the flagship Urbana-Champaign campus.
Charles Tucker is the vice provost for undergraduate education and innovation at the campus. He says administrators asked themselves if they had recently raised the bar too high and went after too many high-paying out-of-state and international students.
The university has been under pressure from parents and others as international enrollment increased in recent years and in-state enrollment fell.
