IU enrollment at record high

Enrollment is at an all-time high for the spring semester at all branches of Indiana University, with 90,670 students taking 1,000,493 credit hours. This is the first time more than one million hours have been taught in a spring semester at Indiana University, according to a University statement.\nThe official enrollment figures released Feb. 1 show a 3.7-percent growth in the number of students and a 4 percent growth in the number of credit hours registered. IU Bloomington has seen growth, setting record levels in student head count and credit hours taken.\nThe IU Bloomington campus has seen the student population rise 3.4 percent from spring 2001, with credit hours rising 3.5 percent.\nThe Office of Communications and Marketing's James Tinney said these numbers at IU are unprecedented. Spring enrollment is down from the fall, from 37,963 students to 35,474, but most of the decrease is because of attrition. \n"We don't bring in the large number of students in the spring as we do in the fall," he said. "There is always some drop off in the number of students from fall to spring semester."\nVice Chancellor for Enrollment Services Don Hossler said part of the reason enrollment is high is that there are increasing amounts of students wanting to attend Indiana University. \n"During the past five to six years, we have seen increases every year in the number of applications," he said. "However, a recent university taskforce has decided that IUB is at capacity at the undergraduate level, so we are making every effort to make sure enrollments do not increase to any significant degree in the future."\nThe task force, which delivered its report Aug. 15, 2001, was chaired by David Zaret, executive associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The report states that IUB has reached capacity on the undergraduate level and is approaching capacity in graduate studies. \nIU President Myles Brand said he accepts the commission's findings. \n"I fully accept the task force's conclusion that our undergraduate enrollment at the Bloomington campus is at capacity," he said. "Having reached this level of enrollment, we can now focus even more directly on raising the quality of our entering classes."\nZaret believes that the expanding numbers during the spring semester are not a precursor of larger enrollment in the fall. \n"Enrollment this spring is larger than last spring because of increases in prior years, and also because the retention rate has been gradually increasing," he said. \nWhile enrollment is high, Tinney said the number of credit hours is not increasing per student and that the undergraduate credit hour rate has remained around 14.5 per student for several years.\nBrand said he was pleased to see the record levels of enrollment on all eight campuses.\n"We are pleased at the continued strong enrollment," he said. "At a time when a college degree has never been more valuable, it is good news that Indiana University is meeting the diverse educational needs of so many students on our eight campuses"