Enrollment at Southern Illinois University Carbondale for the spring fell 7.4 percent compared to the previous spring, dropping the student population below 15,000.
The Southern Illinoisan in Carbondale reports spring 2017 enrollment totaled 14,636, down from 15,806 students enrolled in spring 2016.
Interim Chancellor Brad Colwell said in a statement Tuesday the decline in spring enrollment was expected because students move on after December graduation.
SIU reported there were 1,383 students scheduled to graduate in December. That is close to the 1,351 difference between the fall 2016 enrollment and spring enrollment.
Colwell says the numbers mean the university is holding ground because spring semester figures "are a direct reflection of what we have seen in the fall."
