Today’s number: 144,000
Thursday, Aug 21, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Crain’s…
Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday announced the launch of One Click College Admit, a program where Illinois high school seniors and transfer students can apply to and receive acceptance to state colleges based solely on their GPA. […]
Total undergraduate enrollment in Illinois has decreased by over 20% since 2014, equating to 144,000 fewer students, according to a 2023 report by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. But that decline has not been felt equally.
In a 2024 report, an Illinois education commission found that between 2017-18 and 2021-22, Chicago State University lost 31% of its student headcount and Northeastern Illinois University lost 40% — two public schools that showed some of the earliest signs of trouble. Meanwhile, the University of Illinois Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experienced 11% and 15% increases in student headcount, respectively.
Northern Illinois University has also experienced a prolonged drop in enrollment. NIU’s total student enrollment remained relatively flat in 2023 at 15,504, compared with 15,649 in fall 2022, a difference of less than 1%. But those figures are far below its peak in 2006, when it reported a total student enrollment of 25,313 for the fall. Meanwhile, Western Illinois University’s enrollment has dropped by more than 50% since 2006.
* Some national context…
College enrollment totaled 19.28 million undergraduate students nationwide in Fall 2024, down 8.43% from peak enrollment in 2010 (21.0 million).
- Benjamin - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 1:57 pm:
The state really needs a strategy for its higher ed system, and it needs to think of each of the universities as elements within that system, not institutions in a vacuum.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 2:15 pm:
One of the saddest things for me as an NIU alum is seeing how much smaller the school has gotten and seeing student life also suffer, including a club that I ran for two years that was thriving - now just gone.
- Anon62704 - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 2:35 pm:
=The state really needs a strategy for its higher ed system=
Agreed. The “Demographic Cliff” is here.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/08/nx-s1-5246200/demographic-cliff-fewer-college-students-mean-fewer-graduates
- JS Mill - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 2:35 pm:
=One of the saddest things for me as an NIU alum is seeing…=
Also what has happened to the NW side of the campus (greek row area). It really looks terrible.
- Jockey - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 2:53 pm:
In my part of the world, there are IL Freshmen at:
Dayton
Iowa
Alabama
Tennessee
Arizona
1 at UofI
- Anyone Remember - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 2:54 pm:
Is there a chart / table (not behind a paywall) showing the enrollment data since 2014 by institution by year? Did Rauner and COVID inflict a double whammy?
- Homebody - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 3:00 pm:
@Benjamin- I agree a million percent. It is bewildering to me on a daily basis how much time and effort is spent on different parts of state government entities fighting amongst themselves, rather than seeing a comprehensive strategy being imposed.
The entire Illinois governmental culture appears to be focused on creating, enlarging, and defending fiefdoms over all else.
- Rudy’s teeth - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 3:02 pm:
With grade inflation taking place in some high schools, a policy of admitting students based on GPA may not work.
Many will last one or two semesters and then return to a local community college to retake classes and receive assistance from tutors.
- Lex - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 3:30 pm:
Once upon a time the universities outside of the U of I system were under the supervision of two centralized boards. They were decentralized in the 1990’s. Maybe that needs to be looked at again. It’s no silver bullet, but what we’re doing now isn’t working.
- Grimlock - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 3:31 pm:
The state does have a plan for higher education, developed by the Board of Higher Education. It is about as effective (the plan and the Board) as the awareness of this plan on this site.
- Mason County - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 3:34 pm:
Pubic universities need to plan for dwonsizing now. The U of I system can alasy get the students it needs to maintain enrollment even if it means lowering past academic standards to do so. All the others are will continue to be introuble. Perrhpas ISU the least among the others.
This downsizing must start iwth the administration and other non faculty related positions. Too often it seems the administrators protest the administrators. Those schools which use state appropirated dolars to subzidize Athletics must be givend the message by our state leaders to stop that. Some are presently Division 1 schools that should be Division II- a lot lest costly program to maintain.
Downsizing means not only reducstion if Personnel but also in facilities and duplication of some programs.
Hopefully, (but I must admit I do not have much hope) this will be done. If it can be done through reviews of programs and natural attrition of employees then there will be a lot less pain for all concerned.
- The Farm Grad - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 3:39 pm:
“Is there a chart / table (not behind a paywall) showing the enrollment data since 2014 by institution by year? Did Rauner and COVID inflict a double whammy? ”
It’s not Rauner-related.
Every Non-Top25 institution is facing significant enrollment headwinds.
Why?
(i) secular decline in admissions pool
(ii) price of higher ed too high, relative to perceived benefits
(iii) rise of trades. PE funds have been consolidating HVAC service shops
My recommendation? Massive consolidation
- SAP - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 3:49 pm:
Until in-state tuition at the flagship university can get competitive with out-of-state tuition at state universities in other states, the undergraduate exodus will continue.
- Incandenza - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 4:14 pm:
Sad that one of the solutions to this drop in enrollment could have been encouraging foreign students to enroll and make it easier for bright people abroad to get a student visa.
Instead, orange man hates foreigners and apparently, he’s king now. Sadly the rural college towns will be the ones hardest hit.
- jackmac - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 4:18 pm:
Not mentioned above but worth noting is that Illinois State University has some secret sauce that allows it to continue to maintain and even grow enrollment. In fall 2024, nearly 4,285 first-year students were on campus, a 3 percent increase over the previous year. Total enrollment was also up by 2.7% at 21,546. We’ll see what the 10th day enrollment figures for 2025 are in a few days.
- Frank Manzo IV - Thursday, Aug 21, 25 @ 4:36 pm:
==(iii) rise of trades.==
I’ll be the first to note that registered apprenticeships increased +73% in Illinois between FY2015 and FY2024. But that’s from 12,700 to 21,900 total apprentices, or a little more than +9,200.
Pales in comparison to -144,000.
Union apprenticeships are debt-free and deliver competitive earnings, completion rates, and racial and ethnic diversity outcomes that rival our public universities. However, they aren’t able to make up this loss. We need BOTH college and the trades as pathways into family-sustaining careers.
https://www.apprenticeship.gov/data-and-statistics/apprentices-by-state-dashboard
https://illinoisepi.org/focus-areas/apprenticeship-training/