Overall enrollment at SIU's Carbondale campus is now below 16,000 students.Official ten-day enrollment numbers for the Fall of 2016 put the total number of students at 15,987 - a 7.55% drop over the same time last year.
Interim Chancellor Brad Colwell says there are a number of reasons for the decline. He says vacancies in the admissions department, difficulties with state finances, and a trend in lower graduate enrollment all contributed to a smaller number.
Colwell says some of those issues are already being addressed. He says vacancies have been filled and new strategies are in place in admissions, with a goal of recruiters visiting every high school and community college in Illinois this year.
State budget issues are harder to solve, but the administration says it anticipated the drop in students, so cuts already announced on the campus should be enough to absorb the loss in tuition and fees.
But Colwell admits the lower enrollment number will mean some soul-searching for the university. He says programs that are not attracting students must be evaluated, and the student experience must be the main focus of everyone on campus.
Colwell points to a few bright spots in the smaller enrollment picture. He says the average ACT score for the incoming freshman class is the highest in recent memory, and the junior and senior classes are both slightly bigger than last year - indicating retention efforts are starting to take hold.
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