Despite a 2.6 percent decrease in applications, NIU will get enough students for the fall semester to meet the expected enrollment.

Robert Burk, NIU admissions associate director said the university will be able to meet its goal of 3,200 new freshmen and 2,100 transfer students because the amount of already accepted applicants compared with last year is up 5.9 percent.

“We (NIU admissions) are right where we feel we should be” for this time of year, Burk said. Applications at the other state schools were also down in the early fall, he said.

Kirby Browning, admissions and records director at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, said freshmen applications are down about 20 percent from last year.

Both Browning and Burk said the 7.8 percent statewide decrease in applications is caused by the fewer high school seniors eligible for college.

NIU Provost Kendall Baker said censuses have shown the number of eligible high school seniors for college would decrease until the year 1993.

Baker said NIU might reach the goal of about 5,300 new students, but added their ACT (American College Test) scores and class rank will not be as high as they were for the fall of 1989.

Last semester’s incoming freshmen had class ranks and ACT scores lower than the previous year, Baker said.

However, Burk said NIU would not lessen entrance requirements and the university will accept applicants until the 5,300 goal is reached.

Browning said SIU might admit fewer students but will not change the freshmen requirements and will accept applications until classes start.

The minimum NIU freshmen requirements for the 1990 fall semester are an ACT score of 17, a high school class rank in the top half and high school course requirements, Burk said.

The ACT has been rewritten and a student who took the test before October 1989 needed a score of 17, while a student who takes the test afterward needs a score of 19, he said.

If the number of students decreases, so will the budget for NIU’s programs and services, Baker said.