On Sept. 11, the fall 2008 enrollment numbers revealed that NIU has 877 fewer students than it did last fall.

Why?

Take a second to think about the catastrophic event bringing a dark cloud of worry, negative feelings and general unease – the economy.

It’s not quite a recession (yet), but Americans are now severely curtailing their spending.

Americans are purchasing fewer luxuries and focusing on necessities. For some, that means college is out.

Aside from NIU, Kishwaukee Community College faces a similar problem. The school suffered a 4.5 percent decrease of students from last fall to this semester. That’s a drop of about 210 students fewer compared to a year ago.

“All throughout the summer and fall, students have been commenting on expenses and gas prices,” said Larry Apperson, vice president of student services at Kishwaukee Community College.

It’s hard to retain students when prices keep rising. Time in class cuts into time that could be spent working, and for some potential students, work takes a priority.

“All of the sudden you have to think twice about where your money is coming from,” said Earl Seaver, vice provost. Seaver also explained the administration has no indication the decrease in students attending NIU was caused by the Feb. 14 shootings.

“Right after Feb. 14, we looked closely at the applications, and we didn’t have a drop off in applications after that time,” Seaver said.

High school counselors were also consulted to see if the tragedy would have a negative affect on enrollment.

Seaver said the administration hopes to find out exactly why students did not attend NIU by surveying them directly. It’s a good move to erase any doubt as to why they didn’t attend.

“We are in the process of interviewing students who were in good standing when they left. [We want to know] are they planning to come back in the future? Where did they go?” Seaver said. He also explained that the administration is confident that the university will recover.

“We are going to spend the next few years trying to make the university the best it can be, and what students can do to help is give us the answers. Take the surveys and give us feedback,” Seaver said.

Since the administration is willing to dig deep and find out why students are not returning, we should do our duty and respond to any questions they may have.

Everyone is affected by the economic crisis, including colleges and universities.

While the Feb. 14 shootings may seem like a convenient scapegoat for a drop in enrollment, the real reason has less to do with fear and more to do with finances.