Overall enrollment at Northern Illinois University fell to 16,609. That’s the lowest it has been in 50 years.
But, university officials say that’s not cause for too much concern. They say they saw it coming, and are encouraged by new student numbers, which increased year-to-year.
Sol Jensen says they’re also happy about other growth in other indicators. He’s the vice president for enrollment management, marketing and communication.
He also says that boosts to the state’s AIM High grant program for Illinois students were instrumental in the increases they saw.
“This was also a very strong academic quality of our students," Jensen said. "Last year, the average GPA was 3.31, this year all the way up to 3.36. We also saw an increase in our average ACT and SAT scores. And I think that the scholarships played quite a big role in that.”
According to the school’s Strategic Enrollment plan, they hope for overall enrollment to begin flattening out next year. They predict enrollment to tick up in 2021.