According to this article, enrollment at Illinois State is up 1.1%, compared to the 7.5 % decline at SIUC. Three other universities besides SIUC also expect declines in enrollment. While the state budget no doubt has a roll in the declines, I have to wonder why while Illinois State posted an increase when other state universities saw declines.
Illinois State is simply poaching from other in-state institutions. Illinois State can increase scholarship funding and loosen standards and gain a few percentage points in enrollment. Playing that game is obviously effective in the short term, but doesn't address a more important problem: for every 1 out-of-state student that enrolls in an Illinois public university, at least seven Illinois students choose an out-of-state university insteal of an Illinois university. (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/26/us/college-student-migration.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=image&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=3)
ReplyDeleteAnother way to look at is that Illinois lost the same number of students that SIUE (as an example) currently enrolls. And these data were for 2014, which precedes the current legislative fiasco, although I'd expect that ratio to only increase.
Good points.
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