For a second consecutive year, UIS overall enrollment increases

For the second consecutive year, enrollment at the University of Illinois Springfield has gone up, this time a 11% surge, school officials reported Monday.

A total of 4,661 students were enrolled for the fall semester, up from 4,198 students last year.

The campus saw increases this year in the number of freshman and transfer students.

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Last year's 6.4% boost negated a five-year enrollment slide for UIS.

The increases in the last two years parallel the arrival of Chancellor Janet Gooch at the Springfield campus.

"I wish I could claim it was the chancellor magic, but it's not. It's the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of people," said Gooch. "It truly takes a team."

Ten-day figures are the traditional benchmark for reporting enrollment among U.S. colleges and universities.

Overall, the University of Illinois System enrollment was down 97 students from 94,861 a year ago to 94,746 this year. Campuses at Urbana-Champaign and Chicago make up the other schools in the system.

Lincoln Land Community College and Illinois College in Jacksonville saw gains in enrollment numbers.

LLCC reported an enrollment of 5,352 students this fall, a nearly 19% increase while IC, the second-oldest college in Illinois, jumped 10% to nearly 1,000 students.

While officials at Blackburn College were still waiting on the 10-day count, preliminary enrollment at the Carlinville school is 389 students.

At UIS, there were 259 new incoming freshmen students, about a 6% increase from 245 students in the fall 2022.

The number of students transferring to UIS increased by nearly 3% with 448 students enrolled.

The total number of undergraduate students fell slightly from 2,393 in fall 2022 to 2,342 students in fall 2023.

There was again another increase in graduate students at UIS, going from 1,805 students to 2,319 students, or 28%. Last year, the leap in the class was by 25%.

Online learning continues to grow at UIS with 1,901 online majors, up from 1,597 students, or a 19% increase from last year. The students take their course load fully online.

The school reported that 80% of all UIS students take at least one course online.

"We have a number of students who take a mix of online classes and on-ground classes so that they can accommodate their work schedule, their family life, whatever the case may be," Gooch said. "Those online courses really provide that extra level of flexibility for students who have so many other things going on in their lives."

Illinois residents account for 68% of the students attending UIS this semester and 844 students live in residential facilities on campus.

There were 1,005 international students enrolled at UIS, accounting for 22% of the student body. Black students make up about 11% of the total UIS population, followed by Hispanic students at 8% and Asian students at 4%.

Gooch said the university's participation in the Common Application process might have smoothed things over for students.

"That application (the student fills out) can go to a number of universities, so it's very seamless," Gooch said. "(Before) you had to fill out a unique application for each university. This way you just upload all your information into the Common App and it is utilized by all institutions."

The university also clarified articulation pathways for students transferring from community colleges, she added.

"We try to make it as easy as possible for a student who wants to come to UIS to complete their degree after a two-year community college experience, let them know exactly what courses are going to transfer, what they're going to credit for and enable them to finish in two additional years so it doesn't cost them a whole lot more money and they're able to have the quickest path to a degree," she said.

Gooch said the university is helping to build on the back-to-back years of increased enrollment, including looking at adding programs that could attract new audiences and developing certificates that could better prepare students once they enter the workforce.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," she said, "but we are certainly on the right track."

Contact Steven Spearie: (217) 622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: UIS officials say 4,661 students are enrolled at the Springfield school