Despite economic struggles, Eastern's enrollment unaffected
Issue date: 9/11/09 Section: Opinions
Despite the current economic state, Eastern's enrollment seems to be nearly unaffected with this semester's numbers only decreased by 74 students.
At this time last year there were 12,040 students enrolled at Eastern. Currently, student enrollment is at 11,966.
There are some possible reasons for this surprising find.
As a story in Thursday's edition of The Daily Eastern News reported, some believe that this is because Eastern's tuition is less than other Illinois schools, while offering the same or, in some instances, a better level of education.
The university's press release on enrollment numbers cites Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, saying he believes students understand the importance of a college education.
"We're very close to our optimum enrollment of 12,000," Lord said. "This tells me that our students realize the importance of a higher education and are willing to invest in EIU."
And in an age where a college education is a near prerequisite for employment, we agree on students recognizing the importance of higher education.
Despite the financial hardships many students are facing, or will face with the hardships facing the Monetary Award Program, or MAP grant, Lord said he is relieved the enrollment numbers have remained stable.
Nearly a quarter of undergraduate students rely on the MAP grant, which is to be discontinued in spring 2010 semester unless Illinois politicians are able to find additional funding to help keep students enrolled in universities like Eastern.
"This would be the first class that had been impacted by the economic downturn in terms of their families, jobs and MAP Grants," said Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations, in a story that appeared in Thursday's DEN. "We don't have any hard data but, anecdotally, it may be families have not been able to afford for students to come to school."
Likewise, the number of financial aid applications has gone up from 12,289 in the 2008-2009 academic years to 13,970 for this year. The number of students who received financial aid is in correlation to that.
At this time last year there were 12,040 students enrolled at Eastern. Currently, student enrollment is at 11,966.
There are some possible reasons for this surprising find.
As a story in Thursday's edition of The Daily Eastern News reported, some believe that this is because Eastern's tuition is less than other Illinois schools, while offering the same or, in some instances, a better level of education.
The university's press release on enrollment numbers cites Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, saying he believes students understand the importance of a college education.
"We're very close to our optimum enrollment of 12,000," Lord said. "This tells me that our students realize the importance of a higher education and are willing to invest in EIU."
And in an age where a college education is a near prerequisite for employment, we agree on students recognizing the importance of higher education.
Despite the financial hardships many students are facing, or will face with the hardships facing the Monetary Award Program, or MAP grant, Lord said he is relieved the enrollment numbers have remained stable.
Nearly a quarter of undergraduate students rely on the MAP grant, which is to be discontinued in spring 2010 semester unless Illinois politicians are able to find additional funding to help keep students enrolled in universities like Eastern.
"This would be the first class that had been impacted by the economic downturn in terms of their families, jobs and MAP Grants," said Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations, in a story that appeared in Thursday's DEN. "We don't have any hard data but, anecdotally, it may be families have not been able to afford for students to come to school."
Likewise, the number of financial aid applications has gone up from 12,289 in the 2008-2009 academic years to 13,970 for this year. The number of students who received financial aid is in correlation to that.
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