NIU is looking to improve student retention and enrollment by making sure students are aware of the opportunities available to them.

Eric Weldy, vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, said more research needs to be done to figure out the cause of student attrition, the measure of the number of students who have left NIU. Total enrollment fell 3.3 percent to 21,138 from fall 2012 to fall 2013. Fall 2012 enrollment was 21,869.

“It could be financial, it could be students not having the right preparation before entering a certain academic program, and other times it could be family issues,” Weldy said.

Weldy said marketing and communication with students need to improve to help students learn what resources are available to them.

“I think we need to be more active in reaching out to students, not only inside the classroom but outside the classroom, as it relates to finding out how they’re doing academically,” Weldy said.

Weldy said a major key is having assistance like financial aid or student resources available.

“We have a lot of major resources already in place, but if students aren’t taking advantage of them then the programs we have in place will do them no good,” Weldy said.

Weldy said NIU plans on building relationships with community colleges to gain more transfer students.

“I know President [Doug] Baker has reached out to a number of community college presidents, and I know that my staff through admissions has reached out to increase the visits the community college programs make to the university,” Weldy said.

Jarvis Purnell, director Off-Campus and Non-Traditional Student Services, said his office is taking a look at the retention rates of the student population. The department attends to the needs of off-campus and non-traditional students.

Purnell said the best advice he got as a student was to be active in looking for supportive resources and to do it early.

“Utilize our offices, connect with the staff and go online and search for the opportunities to come up,” Purnell said.

Emily Smith, sophomore special education major, said that as long as students keep up with financial aid opportunities they will be OK.

“Just meet the deadlines for all the applications and you’ll be fine,” she said. “There are so many people that are willing to help students if they have financial aid problems.”