Indiana State University has achieved a record enrollment this fall with 13,771 students, a 1.5 percent increase over last year, officials announced Tuesday.
Part of the increase is being attributed to more freshmen, more Illinois students, an increase in online students and improved freshmen-to-sophomore retention rates. The university also has an increase in “college challenge” students, high school students taking dual-credit courses that count for both high school and college credit.
Other Indiana colleges have also counted high school students in dual credit programs as part of overall headcount.
This fall, Indiana State is reporting 2,688 freshmen, a 9.8 percent increase over last year. That’s a welcome turnabout from last year, when the number of freshmen declined.
“I’m very happy with our numbers,” said ISU president Dan Bradley, who is retiring in January. “I always wish they were higher, but it’s nice to see overall enrollment growth.”
Also, the president said, “We’re very happy for a rebound in freshmen.”
In a news release, Bradley noted that the quality of students — measured by overall improvements in GPA and standardized test scores — has improved as well. One area of concern is a 20 percent decrease in overall international enrollment, and a 50 percent decline in new international students, Bradley said. Last year, ISU had 1,006 international students, both undergraduate and graduate. This year, it is 788 international students. “I think it’s the political climate and the feeling among some folks overseas they not welcome in America,” Bradley said.
Regardless of the reasons, the university plans to work even harder to recruit international students for next year, Bradley said. In terms of overall enrollment, Illinois’ budget problems have prompted more students to pursue a higher education at Indiana State, which saw a 66 percent increase in Illinois freshmen — 402 this year compared to 242 last year.
Other highlights of the 2017-18 fall student body include the following:
• 11,591 total undergraduate enrollment, an increase of 3.5 percent.
• 8,787 Indiana undergraduates, an increase of 1.3 percent.
• 2,510 online students, an increase of 8.6 percent.
• Student retention was up 3.6 percent, the highest level since 2006. Freshmen- to-sophomore retention is 67.8 percent; last year it was 64.2 percent. Some of the trends show that new students are better academically prepared, said John Beacon, senior vice president for enrollment management, marketing and communications.
This year, 1,556 Laptop/ iPad Scholarships were awarded to students with a 3.0 high school GPA or higher. In 2006, the university awarded just 677 laptops.
Enrollment in the university’s Honors Program is also at an all-time high of 982 students, which includes 319 freshmen. In terms of academic performance, “Clearly, we are drawing a pretty good student and I think that has helped” with retention and enrollment numbers, Beacon said. Part of the overall headcount includes “college challenge students,” who are high school students taking dual-credit courses that count for both high school and college credit. The 13,771 headcount includes about 700 college challenge high school students, which is about 300 more than last year, said Teresa Exline, Indiana State chief of staff in the president’s office.
Those students are part of overall headcount, but are not counted as freshmen.
Bradley said the numbers of college challenge students are up in part because ISU was able to obtain those numbers earlier than in the past; ISU releases its enrollment figures after the fifth day of classes, and previously, some of the college challenge numbers didn’t appear until later. At ISU, high school students pay just $25 per credit hour for college challenge courses.
Overall, Indiana State is up in headcount, up a little in full-time equivalent students, but revenue will be down slightly because of fewer international students, Bradley said. Indiana State is waiving the fee to apply to the university until Oct. 1.