Last modified: Monday, February 2, 2009
IU spring enrollment jumps 4 percent
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Enrollment at Indiana University's eight campuses for the 2008-09 spring semester reached a record high of 97,155 students, an increase of 3,754, or 4 percent, from last spring's total enrollment.
"It is apparent that the nation's troubled economic climate is providing people with even more incentive to enroll in higher education," said IU President Michael A. McRobbie. "We saw that last fall when our combined enrollment exceeded 100,000 for the first time ever. Now, with this record 4 percent increase in spring enrollment, we are seeing that the economy is also giving students more incentive to stay until they graduate."
Spring enrollments were up significantly at IU Bloomington, IUPUI and five of the six regional campuses, with IU East in Richmond showing almost a 10 percent increase over the previous spring semester. IU Bloomington reported a 3.3 percent increase and IUPUI was up 3.5 percent.
McRobbie noted that the increased enrollments are coming at a time when state funding to IU campuses is being reduced.
"We are in a situation of having to serve more students in a time of reduced resources," McRobbie said. "So far, we are able to meet the needs of these additional students without sacrificing educational quality. But further reductions in state support could jeopardize our ability to fully serve all Hoosiers who want an IU education."
Total credit hours taken at all IU campuses is up at 1,120,210, an increase of 52,536 hours, or 4.9 percent.
Among individual campuses, IU Bloomington -- with a record 38,599 spring semester students -- saw enrollment climb by 3.3 percent. This includes record levels for undergraduate, graduate, total headcounts and hours enrolled. Total credit hours were up 4.3 percent to 510,066.
The Bloomington campus also reported significant increases in minority and international students. The campus headcount includes 1,685 African Americans (5 percent above last spring's number), 992 Hispanics (6.4 percent above last spring's number) and 117 Native Americans (12.5 percent above last spring's number). The campus' 3,784 international students are also a record high, surpassing the spring the '07 record by 3.6 percent.
At IUPUI, records were set for graduate, professional and total enrollments as well as total credit hours taken. Additionally, Asian American and Hispanic enrollments were at an all time high. IUPUI's total enrollment, including graduate students, this spring is 29,126, compared with last spring's 28,134, an increase of 992 students, or 3.5 percent.
Enrollment, credit hours and changes from last spring at other campuses were as follows:
IU East, Richmond -- a record high of 2,382 students (9.7 percent) and 24,028 credit hours (13.1 percent)
IU Kokomo -- 2,510 students (-2.0 percent) and 24,684 credit hours (-1.1 percent)
IU Northwest -- 4,656 students (4.7 percent) and 46,589 credit hours (7.9 percent)
IU South Bend -- 7,142 students (7.3 percent) and 67,427 credit hours (8.1 percent)
IU Southeast, New Albany -- 6,173 students (6.0 percent) and 59,826 credit hours (7.4 percent)
IPFW, Fort Wayne -- a record high of 6,597 students (5.0 percent) and 67,185 credit hours (6.2 percent)
Note: These figures reflect the general trend at universities for smaller spring enrollments. Spring and summer enrollment numbers primarily are kept for internal management purposes. However, for consistent representation, universities typically report fall enrollments as the official count for the entire year. Data for IPFW reflects only IU-degree students. Combined spring enrollment at IPFW, including Purdue-degree students, is 11,611.
