There has been a decrease in the enrolment of freshmen in some Illinois State universities. The decrease of enrolment is state-wide as Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern Illinois universities are all affected by it. Many students, school leaders, professors and lawmakers are worried because of it.
One of the reasons this might be happening is because of the budget deficit Department of Education in Illinois, Chicago is facing. According to Chicago Tribune, universities with more stable funding did well with the enrolment. University of Illinois and Illinois State University both did fine with the enrolment of freshmen.
The financial mess has definitely something to do with it. The state budget is making the students and parents not want to enrol in a university that might not support their education. Eastern Illinois University has the highest negative. It is down by 25% this year; Followed by Southern Illinois University Carbondale with 23.7% decline. While Northern Illinois University has 20.2% decline, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has 7.7%.
Though Eastern Illinois University has the highest decline, president David Glassman is not much fazed about it. He said that if the budget issue is fixed, they know how to get students enrolling in their university again. A state senator, Sen. Laura Murphy, D-Park Ridge stated that she spoke with some students and most of them said they will not enrol in a school with uncertainty.
She added that the state's financial mess should be fixed immediately. "We have world-class universities, programs that are unique to the state of Illinois that should not be overshadowed by the budget issue."
Sen. Bill Cunningham, a Chicago Democrat on the Senate's higher education committee said the cutting of budget is alarming. He knew students were advised before enrolling that the program that they want might not be offered to these universities as they are closing more and more courses they offered before.
