Despite the declining economy, NIU could see an increase in enrollment come fall.

Almost 12,500 new freshman and transfer students enroll each fall, and assistant economics professor Carl Campbell predicts even more students could enroll next semester.

“There are two possible effects,” he said. “The first possibility is that fewer people can afford to go to college so this will decrease enrollment, or the second possibility is that it will be too hard to find a job otherwise, so people might go to college instead.”

There are a lot of factors that go into determining how many students are accepted each fall.

“We have an enrollment management plan that helps us determine what number of students we can sufficiently provide courses for based on faculty numbers, rate of retention, the number of graduates, the mixture of undergraduates to graduates and the course offerings,” said Brent Gage, assistant vice-provost of Enrollment Services.

Campbell predicts more students will choose the cheaper state school over the more expensive private one. NIU is one of the cheaper state schools, at about $18,000 per year. Yet while some students may opt for a private school, one must decide if they are willing to pay these much higher expenses.

“People will end up going here instead of private schools because tuition is comparatively cheaper,” Campbell said.

The more students NIU enrolls, the better off it will be due to state funding.

“NIU is a large, state-associated institution; the less students NIU has, the less state resources NIU will have,” Gage said. He added that the fewer resources will affect how many students NIU can accept each semester.

“Enrollment is based on resources we have: the number of courses offered, the number of faculty; we cannot just admit students and not be able to give them at least a full 12 credit hour schedule,” Gage said.

Some current students believe community college is a better deal, and those institutions will see a rise in enrollment.

“I think less people will enroll here because it’s just too expensive. People will go to community college,” said freshman english major Jaclyn Thyfault.

Others feel NIU will see a number of students enroll that may have chosen private schools during a stronger economy.

“It depends: more students will enroll here instead of expensive private schools, but students who would have went here may now go to community college instead,” said sophomore finance major Bradley Kip Hardy.