The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
No matter the reason, the anticipated enrollment growth at Indiana State University is welcome news for the school and the Terre Haute community.
A busier, more vibrant campus energizes the city economically, intellectually and visibly.
Signs of growth at ISU have emerged in recent years, after an unsettling enrollment decline in the middle of the last decade. This summer, hints of even stronger student numbers came during the university’s annual new-student orientation. Attendance at that event was up 44 percent (or 728 students) from the summer of 2009. ISU had to add two extra orientation sessions to handle the influx of prospective students.
Those students-to-be, of course, have only been admitted to ISU, and have not yet enrolled. That happens in August. Still, in the past, 95 to 97 percent of people admitted as students actually enrolled. If that happens again, this fall’s first-time freshman enrollment could total 2,572. That’s 537 more newcomer students than last year’s crop.
The increase could be the largest at ISU in years, said John Beacon, vice president for enrollment management, marketing and communications.
The university administration, staff and faculty deserves credit for a concerted effort to make ISU an attractive choice for college-bound people. The school markets itself better to potential students, staying engaged during the often unpredictable journey from first contact to enrollment. A focus on drawing more students from Chicago appears to have paid off, too.
Creating that momentum has not been easy. The state’s $150-million cuts in education hit ISU hardest. The school’s budget got sliced by 6.6 percent after the state moved to a performance-based funding formula. ISU took the biggest hit because of its declining overall enrollment in the past. The new standards emphasize not only growth in enrollment, but also higher graduation rates. In response, ISU President Dan Bradley set goals of reaching an enrollment of 12,000 by 2014, a 14-percent jump from the current level. Bradley also wants ISU’s four-year graduation rate to climb from 21 to 26 percent by 2014, and the six-year rate to rise from 42 to 46 percent.
Indiana State hasn’t seen a 12,000-student campus since its Larry Bird-era heyday in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
ISU’s situation isn’t a fluke. Colleges around the country are attracting record numbers of new students, according to a study released by the Pew Research Center. More minority students are graduating from high school now, boosting the pool of possible collegians. Also, many young adults are choosing college rather than wading into the still-recovering U.S. job market without a degree.
Freshman enrollment at U.S. colleges rose 6 percent in 2008, according to federal government figures released to The Associated Press last month. That’s the biggest increase since 1968.
Fuller classes at ISU translate into more activity throughout Terre Haute. The city’s long struggle to become a bona fide college town becomes more likely, because businesses catering to students, staff, faculty, alums and parents see greater profit potential.
The more students ISU enrolls, retains and graduates, the better off Terre Haute becomes.
