A steep decline in the number of high school seniors means that students who meet only the minimum requirements will have a better chance of being admitted to NIU next year, said NIU President John La Tourette.

Nick Noe, director of NIU Institutional Research, said average NIU students rank in the upper third of their high school class and have an average ACT score of 21 or higher.

However, NIU will begin considering applicants with ACT scores of 17 who rank in the upper two-thirds of their high school class.

Noe said the number of graduating high school seniors dropped 12 percent during the last two years. Current figures indicate an additional decline of 18 percent before stabilizing in fall 1992.

As a consequence of the smaller number of high school seniors, many Illinois colleges and universities have experienced “significant decreases” in the number of applications, La Tourette said.

At the same time, NIU applications have declined only 1.5 percent, La Tourette said.

“The public seems to realize that, dollar for dollar, NIU offers an excellent buy in a college education,” La Tourette said.

NIU is hoping to stabilize its on-campus enrollment at 17,000 during the next two to three years, La Tourette said.

In order to reach that goal the admissions office has established a target figure of 3,200 freshmen admissions and 2,000 transfer students per year, he said.

“Our basic admission requirements have always been an ACT score of 17 and an upper half class rank,” he said.

However, NIU had many classes with higher averages than that because “the 23-county area that is our primary constituency produced a large number of well-qualified applicants. Those numbers aren’t there anymore.”

La Tourette said he feels confident that students with lower scores will be able to do college work “if we offer them the proper support services.”

It is important to give less-prepared students a chance at a college education because “we must do our part to prepare them for the significant role they will play in the evolution of our society,” he said.

La Tourette said he anticipates the number of students older than 30 will also continue to increase.

“Over the next 10 years, the additional number of minorities and older students will transform the college experience as we know it,” La Tourette said.