Enrollment rate reaches 7-year low

For the first time in seven years, IU will be welcoming fewer students in the fall than projected.\nVice Chancellor of Enrollment Services Don Hossler said the projected enrollment number was based on the number of new students last year.\n"Our last year's class was around 6,750, and that was our enrollment target for this coming year," Hossler said.\nHossler said the exact number of new students coming to IU in the fall will not be known until after the census, which happens in the second week of classes, but they are now expecting 6,500 students.\nAlthough it is unclear why enrollment has decreased, Hossler said there are a number of hypotheses being considered, including recruitment programs by other schools and the economy.\n"Even though the economy is turning around, three or four years of bad economy can make parents more hesitant to pay out-of-state tuition," Hossler said.\nThe University will have a better idea of the cause of the decreased enrollment after the fall semester starts, when new students arrive and their characteristics are evaluated.\nHossler said the effects of a decrease in enrollment should not be devastating. He said some of the effects may be positive.\n"There will be fewer students and that affects revenue a little," Hossler said. "It will mean some classes will be easier to get into."\nLower enrollment could also mean less state funding next year.\nHossler said while enrollment has decreased this year, it still demonstrates an overall increase in enrollment that has taken place over the last decade.\n"We've ranged between 6,550 and 7,000 over the past few years, so this is a decrease but not a drastic one," Hossler said. "Eight years ago it was about 6,000."\nUntil the decrease's cause is known, Hossler said it will be difficult to determine what the University will do to counteract it.\n"We will be looking at what happened to try to make sure it doesn't happen again," Hossler said.\nTrustee Sue Talbot said she agrees that it is too early to panic about the decreased enrollment.\n"If there is a decrease, of course it will have some fiscal impact on our budget," Talbot said. "But it's too early to speculate what the effects will be."\n-- Contact Campus Editor Karen Green at kamgreen@indiana.edu.