With the economy continuing its downturn and the perpetually increasing cost of major universities, working-class families are finding it increasingly difficult to afford higher education.

Facing these challenges, NIU is working hard to reach these families and bring students to DeKalb.

“We are trying new and different recruiting strategies,” said Brent Gage, assistant vice provost for enrollment services. “We are working on a system of mailings, e-mails and we even created a “Class of 2013″ Facebook group.”

For the 2008-2009 school year, NIU’s tenth-day count, the official enrollment number for the university, was 24,397 students. That is down 3.4 percent from the 2007-2008 count of 25,254. These numbers are similar to enrollment numbers at universities around the country.

“The problem we had last year was retention,” Gage said. “Our goals for incoming freshmen were met, and we have the most transfer students out of any university in the state, but some students did not return.”

In order to improve retention and ease the financial burden on working-class families, NIU has created the Huskie Advantage Program, a gift aid program available to incoming freshmen. Many students rely on federal Pell Grants and Illinois MAP grants to fund their education.

Cash-strapped parents in middle-income families, however, are left with an unmet tuition balance after the two grants are applied. Prior to the Huskie Advantage Program, students or their parents would have to take out an additional loan to cover the remaining tuition. Now, the program is available to pay the remaining balance.

Gage believes this will put a university education within reach for all Illinois residents as well as increase student retention.

“Not only will we be able to help students afford higher education, but students may find their first year a little bit easier,” he said. “If a student does not feel the financial pressure to get a job or worry about burdening their parents, they will be able to focus more on their class work and succeed.”

The Huskie Advantage Program will be available to incoming freshmen beginning in 2009. The program will only apply to the first year at NIU and the balance of the rest of the student’s college career will be covered by increasing financial aid availability. Although there are no estimates for how many students will be eligible for this program, enrollment services believes that about 400 students would have been eligible last fall.