DeKALB | Enrollment at NIU is down by about five percent because of Illinois’ continued population decline and the level of state support for higher education, according to a Sept. 7 campus update.

The expected decline puts NIU enrollment at about 19,000 students. The freshman class took the biggest hit, along with transfer and graduate enrollment numbers. However, enrollment is up for a number of programs, including undergraduate and graduate engineering, undergraduate computer science and graduate public administration.

“We are working aggressively on a variety of fronts to get back to where we need to be,” NIU President Doug Baker said in the update.

NIU hopes to combat the decline by focusing on marketing to high school students who plan to pursue higher education in-state, as Illinois is the second largest exporter of high school students to other states for higher education, according to the update.

Several ongoing initiatives are intended to combat the decline, including partnerships with community colleges, the recent shift in tuition structure that requires no additional charge beyond 12 credit hours per semester and the renovation of the Holmes Student Center and Stevens Building, which is intended to make the campus more “attractive to prospective students,” according to the update.

Enrollment management strategies have made a major shift over the past two and a half years, according to meeting minutes from the July 21 Board of Trustees Ad Hoc Committee on Enrollment. Enhanced community college partnerships have resulted from this. As of July, NIU was in the process of hiring three admissions advisers who will serve as community college service coordinators.

“All of these ongoing efforts to align resources and mission strengthen NIU and better position us for the future,” Baker said in the update.