EIU Media Relations

EIU Enrollment Climbs for Third Year in a Row

For the third consecutive year, Eastern Illinois University has seen an increase in total enrollment.

Eastern's Fall 2004 enrollment of 11,651 exceeds last year's number of 11,522 by 129 (1.1 percent).

The figures also indicate that the numbers of sophomores, juniors and seniors, as well as graduate students, are up, while freshman numbers are down. This proves to university officials that their enrollment management efforts have been successful.

The university's goal was to admit 3,000 new students for the fall. Actual enrollment of new students was 3,029.

While record-breaking freshman enrollments for the past two consecutive years (2,751 in 2002 and 2,927 in 2003) have shown Eastern is, indeed, the university of choice by many Illinois residents, officials were concerned that additional freshman growth would over-extend the university's resources.

"We have sought to maintain enrollment at a level appropriate to our capacity," said EIU President Lou Hencken . "We've made a commitment to our students that ensures their ability to get the classes they need to graduate in a timely manner."

Records indicate that 2,617 freshmen enrolled at Eastern this fall; 1,803 of those are first-time students.

A breakdown of Eastern's total Fall 2004 student enrollment is as follows (with Fall 2003 figures in parenthesis): undergraduate students, 9,928 (9,845) - freshmen, 2,617 (2,927); sophomores, 2,176 (1,958); juniors, 2,320 (2,173); and seniors, 2,815 (2,787). Graduate students number 1,723, an increase from last year's 1,677.

Of the total, 9,605 are full-time students and 2,046 are part-time. Also of the total, 4,829 are men and 6,822 are women.

Diversity of the student body remained essentially unchanged from last year.