Leatherneck Nation

I am totally with you Leatherface! Recruitment and retention were a concern before the state stalemate, the lack of a budget just made it that much worse. WIU had no control over the amount of funds it received, just how to judiciously deal it out, time to concentrate on what WIU as a whole can control! jc

Just FYI, the only reason that we were discussing SIU is because they were one of the first to release their numbers.
So far, I've seen ISU, SIU-C, SIU-E, WIU, and EIU.

Eastern's Fall 2017 enrollment declines by 5 percent.

Eastern's total fall enrollment has dropped 5 percent from 7,415 in fall 2016 to 7,030 in fall 2017.

There are currently 634 first-time freshman, 1,178 undergraduate transfer, 383 first-time graduate, and 4,656 continuing education students enrolled at the university.

According to a press release, the drop in freshman is the lowest fall-to-fall headcount decline in six years that Eastern has had.

University officials blamed the two-year state budget impasse, a smaller pool of high school graduates to recruit, and a statewide decrease in overall higher education enrollment for this decline.

Though overall and freshman enrollment is down, there were higher numbers than there were last year of transfer students (up 19 percent), domestic graduate students (up 30 percent), and international undergraduate student enrollments (up 2 percent).

Neckfansince71 wrote: Sat Sep 09, 2017 8:12 am I am totally with you Leatherface! Recruitment and retention were a concern before the state stalemate, the lack of a budget just made it that much worse. WIU had no control over the amount of funds it received, just how to judiciously deal it out, time to concentrate on what WIU as a whole can control! jc

Yes, "recruitment and retention were a concern before the state stalemate," but were weren't acting then to resolve the issue because the blame was always placed elsewhere. That is my argument. You can't control the hand you are dealt, but you can control how you play it. Except for remaining financially solvent, Western has been doing a poor job of playing the had it has been dealt.

I will post this here since it does involve enrollment. I just read an article that for the fourth year, Western is waiving the $30.00 application fee for high school students in several of the surrounding counties of Macomb. I am surprised Western even still has an application fee. If you are going to waive it four years in a row, why even keep it? I guess I'm wrong, but, I thought most colleges stopped charging an application fee some time ago.The schools I worked at, including the current school, stopped the application fee years ago.

A quick check of other state institutions in Illinois looks like application fees are still common. I'm wrong.

WIU notes student reduction, touts positive movement.

From Saturday's McDonough County Voice:
http://www.leathernecknation.net/forum/ ... &f=5&t=833

Enrollment Down Nearly 9% at Western Illinois University.

From Tri-States Public Radio WIUM-FM:
http://tspr.org/post/enrollment-down-ne ... university

You just wonder- what happened after 2011? Why from 13,000 and a steady drop to the present? Looks like it "pays" to be a part of the U of I system in recent years.