Student enrollment breaking past records

Enrollment statistics show that IU is at record levels for the fall semester of 2002. Determining factors are both the total number of students enrolled and the amount of credit hours they are taking. Enrollment figures released Sept. 12th show 98,710 students enrolled in 1,101,661 credit hours university-wide, which includes all eight campuses.\nMembers of the IU-Bloomington administration all agree this is beneficial for the present state of the University and also the future.\n"The continued enrollment growth is good news for both our University and our state," IU President Myles Brand said in a statement.\nThe administration as a whole believes the high enrollment shows IU is meeting the expectations of students and future college graduates. Many feel this positive growth assists the state of Indiana economically as well.\nThe Bloomington campus has its largest class of freshmen in history, with 7,080 enrolling. There are 38,903 students enrolled this semester making this the fourth consecutive year for IUB to set both a record for enrollment numbers and credit hours. \nBrand said campus is reaching its capacity. \nVice President for Public Affairs Bill Stephan said increasing enrollment is a good development for the University.\n"It serves to validate the quality of our faculty and programs and the value of an IU degree," he said. "It also means that Indiana University will be educating more of our state's citizens, thereby further contributing to Indiana's vitality." \nThe IUB administration was not surprised at Bloomington's enrollment statistics because of its internationally recognized faculty and scores of programs. \n"Frankly, there is no substitute for quality faculty and programs. You either have them or you don't," he said. "Fortunately, we have internationally recognized faculty and scores of programs that are the envy of our competitors. Couple those attributes with one of the country's most beautiful campuses (IUB), and you can understand why we continue to grow."\nIUB continues to market and recruit students. Stephan and many others emphasized that the marketing has something to do with the rising enrollment.\nBut the administration isn't dwelling on the fact that the University has reached nearly full capacity. \nWhile many students are attracted to IU's availability of smaller classrooms, some feel many aren't big enough. But IU is working on expanding.\n"IUB was prepared for this year's record breaking enrollment," said Don Hossler, Vice Chancellor for enrollment services. \nThe waitlist classes for this fall were actually smaller than last year, though enrollment and credit hours were higher. \n"We had a moral obligation to follow the old admissions policy which actually has caused more students to be accepted in the past," he said. \nThe University has now changed its acceptance policies because IUB simply does not have the space available.\nThe administration said it is completely confident this addition will not change and that IU is determined to make sure each student is given the same opportunities each student needs to succeed and graduate, regardless of enrollment growth.