NIU President John Peters, DeKalb Schools Superintendent Brian Ali and School Board President Don Robinson presented projected figures of their respective schools Tuesday night at the DeKalb Growth Summit Meeting.

Peters said student enrollment at NIU is not expected to be a problem over the next 10 years.

He presented projected enrollment figures for until 2010.

According to those figures, enrollment at all NIU campuses is 25,000, which is the largest growth in more than a decade. Peters said that figure is 1,200 more than last year.

Peters discussed how NIU anticipated and responded to growth and how it looks at growth and the impact of it.

With the enrollment rising, Peters said there are more demands for new services and facilities.

Students today expect more cutting edge technology and demand more recreation and shopping options, Peters said.

To get those additional options, there needs to be a more appropriate academic environment and better existing facilities.

One thing that already is happening is the Chick Evans Field House being turned into a recreation center. The original Student Recreation Center already is becoming too small to fit the students’ needs.

As for enrollment trends, Peters said there was a drop in the mid-’90s, but it started to increase after 1997.

Out of the 8,000 faculty and staff employed at NIU, 75 percent live in DeKalb County.

“We are a big part of the DeKalb community,” Peters said.

Peters said he hoped to help recruit new businesses and industries to NIU in the future.

Peters said he didn’t want to cap enrollment, but to find a way to manage the growth.

Peters said it would be more difficult to get funding for the university with the dark cloud over the state budget.

By 2010, Peters said he projected the growth to be around 25,000.

“When the economy is good, the number of graduates decreases and when the economy is bad, more people are going back to school,” Peters said.

The school district would be able to handle an enrollment growth of 2 percent per year for the next 10 years, Ali and Robinson said.

That only will be handled well if a school referendum passes soon, Robinson said.

The district would be able to handle the operational part of it, meaning things like teachers and books. Without a referendum, there would be no place to put students, Robinson said.

Growth greater than 2 percent changes the dynamics, Ali said.

DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow said having the information presented gives the summit what they need to see how to handle growth.

“The question is, how big do we want to be?” Sparrow said.