Enrollment drops ~5%; Headcount now under 8k

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Jason Svoboda

Jason Svoboda

The Bird Level
Administrator
Indiana State University’s overall enrollment numbers decreased compared to last fall, but officials said they remain encouraged by other promising statistics.

That’s according to an ISU news release stating a total headcount of 7,895 for the fall of 2024 enrollment, reflecting a 4.94% decrease from last fall.

When looking at previous enrollment, the total headcount is down from 8,305 enrolled in the fall of 2023, 8,658 in the fall of 2022, and 9,459 in the fall of 2021.

 

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Sooooo, that deep NIT-run not quite paying any enrollment dividends. NCAA Final Four or bust!
 
Would love to get back to 10k in the next few years. I still believe the ultimate goal and where ISU should be is that 14k-16k mark. Don't know how attainable that is in this day and age but that would be a very healthy student body
 
RunSyc said:
New Prez has a tough overhaul. Here's hoping for 10k, eventually.
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The one positive from the article was the Honors College headcount was up and accounted for 25% of the class. It's time to make a HARD pivot into that and make it the priority for the school. Will lead to better retention rates, better academic outcomes, and then build the reputation off of that. Not being Little Chicago as I've heard it called for quite awhile now.
 
I guess no showing county college fairs and high school info & admission days isn't a sustainable working model. Many of which, ISU is the only state institution not participating in these events. Apparently, Indiana State needs these grass roots, one-on-one recruitment efforts, and not simply slapping up billboards and commercials to drive enrollment. Huh!?
 
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SCollie76 said:
I guess no showing county college fairs and high school info & admission days isn't a sustainable working model. Many of which, ISU is the only state institution not participating in these events. In my opinion, Indiana State needs these grass roots, one-on-one recruitment efforts, and not simply slapping up billboards and commercials to drive enrollment.
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Who knew?
 
I have to assume that marginal college students deciding to skip college altogether is really hurting ISU. We have been the haven for those kids for a long time. Probably need to hang our hat elsewhere. We're obviously not the only institution suffering from attendance woes.
 

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SycamoreinTexas said:
Other schools are seeing record enrollments. Kids are still going to college. I feel we have the right people in leadership who will get the numbers back up. But kids spending more money ever on college want the full college experience
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Poor leadership. Poor marketing. Poor recruiting.

They tried to hit the easy button by just going after Government Pell money and that lazy ass philosophy was always a bad fucking decision. They beat their chest about targeting and having first time college students but that's exactly the reason why our enrollment and retention is down. Also, in targeting that demographic, whether people want to hear or agree with it or not, it turns off quality prospective students. That demo should be a supplementary population, not your whole fucking focus.

The fact Indiana State wasn't sitting up in Fishers, Carmel, Zionsville, Noblesville (and the other donut counties) guidance offices, career fairs and the like just as Ball State, IUPUI and the rest were shows how moronic they were.

Hopefully Godard realizes just how dumb Deb's philosophy and strategy was and goes all in on changing that immediately.
 

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Jason Svoboda said:
Poor leadership. Poor marketing. Poor recruiting.

They tried to hit the easy button by just going after Government Pell money and that lazy ass philosophy was always a bad fucking decision. They beat their chest about targeting and having first time college students but that's exactly the reason why our enrollment and retention is down. Also, in targeting that demographic, whether people want to hear or agree with it or not, it turns off quality prospective students. That demo should be a supplementary population, not your whole fucking focus.

The fact Indiana State wasn't sitting up in Fishers, Carmel, Zionsville, Noblesville (and the other donut counties) guidance offices, career fairs and the like just as Ball State, IUPUI and the rest were shows how moronic they were.

Hopefully Godard realizes just how dumb Deb's philosophy and strategy was and goes all in on changing that immediately.
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Proof that WOKE doesn’t work.
 
Chief_Quabachi said:
The question remains.Does the new administration understand the errors of the previous administration?
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Absolutely - enrollment is a decades old issue; ISU is effectively at the same level today as when I graduated in the late 1980s, UNDER 10,000

PLENTY of blame to share on this issue - definitely not the work of one admin, where they were asleep or not
 
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