© 2024 NPR Illinois
The Capital's Community & News Service
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Numbers Slide In Illinois Public Colleges

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

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.
Related Stories