For the first time since 1987, NIU has an enrollment of more than 25,000 students.

While it comes as good news, NIU President John Peters said he doesn’t know how long the university can continue to grow without additional aid from the state.

NIU’s official 10th-day count is 25,260 students, up from last year’s count of 24,948.

Twenty-five thousand students is about as many as NIU can handle, considering the amount of state-appropriated funding the university is receiving, Peters said.

When the university had an enrollment boom in the mid-1980s, more than half the budget was coming from the state. Due to recent state budget cuts – which have totaled nearly $30 million over the last two years – only about 30 percent of NIU’s current budget is coming from state funds, Peters said.

The lack of money is making it harder for NIU to grow, but Peters said NIU is fully utilizing its resources.

This is the seventh consecutive year NIU has experienced an enrollment increase. Peters said he attributed the constant increase to a number of factors.

NIU’s academic reputation in the region is increasing, and NIU graduates are becoming more sought-after by employers, he said. The growth and proximity of Chicago’s suburbs also is seen as a factor.

“NIU continues to be the university of choice for talented, hard-working Chicagoland students,” Peters said.

The largest percentage increase of students was that of graduate students, which rose from 6,513 last year to 6,651 this year – an increase of 2.1 percent.

The amount of undergraduates rose from 18,104 to 18,275, which is a 0.9 percent increase. The number of law students rose from 331 to 334 – also a 0.9 percent increase.

Freshmen enrollment also grew substantially, rising from 3,032 last fall to 3,239 this fall. The only decrease was in the amount of transfer students, which dropped from 2,445 to 2,152.