Education Desk
Numbers Slide In Illinois Public Colleges
NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS | By Dusty Rhodes
Published March 10, 2017 at 4:18 PM CST
Carter Staley
NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS
Enrollment in Illinois' public universities and community colleges continues to decline. That's according to figures released by the state Board of Higher Education.
The three University of Illinois campuses and Governors State University all experienced slight gains in undergraduate enrollment over the past year, but all other public universities reported declines. Hardest hit for the second year in a row were Chicago State, with a 35 percent drop, and Eastern Illinois University, down 19 percent.
Seven of the nine schools also declined in graduate student enrollment, but Southern Illinois University in Carbondale reported a 20 percent increase.
Overall enrollment is down by almost 3 percent from last year.
For community colleges, the news is a bit worse, with a 5 percent decline compared to 2016.
To read more, check out the IBHE report.
Credit Illinois Board of Higher Education
Education DeskChicago State Universityhigher ed
After a long career in newspapers (Dallas Observer, The Dallas Morning News, Anchorage Daily News, Illinois Times), Dusty returned to school to get a master's degree in multimedia journalism. She began work as Education Desk reporter at NPR Illinois in September 2014.
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