EIU Enrollment Down But Freshman On The Rise

Enrollment is down this fall at Eastern Illinois but the university stopped a four-year slide in the number of new freshmen.

EIU said Wednesday that undergraduate enrollment dropped this fall by 7 percent, from 8,975 in 2012 to 8,347.

The school was hurt in part by a decline in transfer students. That includes students from community colleges. Provost Blair Lord pointed out that community college enrollments are down around the country.

But EIU enrolled 1,254 freshmen this fall. That's up 1.6 percent from 2012's 1,234 and stops a run of declines dating to 2009.

Lord believes the increase is due to EIU's efforts to draw more students while improving standards.

The school's average ACT score and the average GPA for incoming freshmen also improved.