Large freshman class but total enrollment drops to 15,811. Not what I wanted to see but not terribly surprised. Overall college enrollment is on the decline in general.

https://www.rockfordnewsfirst.com/2026/0...nt-decade/

National 2026 enrollment up slightly

UIC = up
U of I = up
SIUC = up

NIU = down

Fire Lisa Freeman. She has sucked hard since day one.

Get out of her ill-advised 1 year extension somehow.

(09-10-2026 06:45 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  National 2026 enrollment up slightly

UIC = up
U of I = up
SIUC = up

NIU = down

Fire Lisa Freeman. She has sucked hard since day one.

Get out of her ill-advised 1 year extension somehow.

We don't end contracts early ... You know that

(09-10-2026 06:45 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  National 2026 enrollment up slightly

UIC = up
U of I = up
SIUC = up

NIU = down

Fire Lisa Freeman. She has sucked hard since day one.

Get out of her ill-advised 1 year extension somehow.

Freeman is a disgrace. Frazier is meh at best.

Maybe the Seahawks have an opening for Chief DEI Officer or something she can jump to

I’ve heard from a pretty reliable source that U of I has made it easier to enroll in order to keep their numbers steady. That hurts the smaller schools as there was a percentage of kids that couldn’t get into U of I that would enroll at NIU. Now they are getting into U of I.

(09-10-2026 06:45 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  National 2026 enrollment up slightly

UIC = up
U of I = up
SIUC = up

NIU = down

Fire Lisa Freeman. She has sucked hard since day one.

Get out of her ill-advised 1 year extension somehow.

Convenient of you to cherry pick the only three state schools that increased enrollment without mentioning that the majority lost students. Maybe those schools’ presidents should be fired too?

(09-10-2026 07:44 PM)Rawdog10 Wrote:  

(09-10-2026 06:45 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  National 2026 enrollment up slightly

UIC = up
U of I = up
SIUC = up

NIU = down

Fire Lisa Freeman. She has sucked hard since day one.

Get out of her ill-advised 1 year extension somehow.

Convenient of you to cherry pick the only three state schools that increased enrollment without mentioning that the majority lost students. Maybe those schools’ presidents should be fired too?

Why would he do that? It wouldn’t help his point.

(09-10-2026 07:44 PM)Rawdog10 Wrote:  

(09-10-2026 06:45 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  National 2026 enrollment up slightly

UIC = up
U of I = up
SIUC = up

NIU = down

Fire Lisa Freeman. She has sucked hard since day one.

Get out of her ill-advised 1 year extension somehow.

Convenient of you to cherry pick the only three state schools that increased enrollment without mentioning that the majority lost students. Maybe those schools’ presidents should be fired too?

Why not admit that Lisa Freeman has tanked our enrollment, instead of nitpicking the post I slapped up in 30 seconds. NIU deserves better.

The point is college enrollment is actually up this year in the U.S., a number of Illinois colleges managed to get past any unique in-state roadblocks to post gains, and yet here we are with a Freeman-run NIU showing a net loss once again, as with almost all semesters under her helm.

Enrollment is about marketing, image and culture creation, and she has been curbed stomped by most out of state schools, and out performed by many in-state presidents as well during her term. She needs to go. NIU at 20k+ is a much healthier institution financially, which is ridiculously obtainable if downstate ISU remains above 20k during the same time span, Freeman unfortunately just took us in a different and less advantageous direction semester after semester.

Slice it any way you like, she's a bad president and recruiter. She likely wasn't the right candidate from the start.

(09-10-2026 07:00 PM)DeKalb098 Wrote:  I’ve heard from a pretty reliable source that U of I has made it easier to enroll in order to keep their numbers steady. That hurts the smaller schools as there was a percentage of kids that couldn’t get into U of I that would enroll at NIU. Now they are getting into U of I.

There's just no way they haven't lowered their standards to get to an enrollment over 60k. Lots of news articles showing that high school student performance has gone down over the last decade. Students who had 30-34 ACT scores couldn't get admitted there 20-25 years ago. My guess is they have to be letting students in with ACT scores in the 20s now and lower GPAs.

Every single time this gets brought up you absolute morons keep forgetting that the town of Dekalb blows. Theres what like 2 bars for people to go to? You think some 18 year old who's weighing between ISU and NIU is not going look at the party/bar scene? Its the social media age they pick the party scene 9/10. ISU is #83 out of 1,495 party schools in the nation. NIU is #572. Use your brains people.

A dying farm town in the middle of nowhere is a tough sell to get people to go to. I guess the university could start embracing a party school atmosphere and advertise that but you can only do so much with what you have.

(09-11-2026 08:15 AM)epasnoopy Wrote:  There's just no way they haven't lowered their standards to get to an enrollment over 60k. Lots of news articles showing that high school student performance has gone down over the last decade. Students who had 30-34 ACT scores couldn't get admitted there 20-25 years ago. My guess is they have to be letting students in with ACT scores in the 20s now and lower GPAs.

The average ACT score of UIUC's 2026 incoming freshmen class was 31.2. It was 29.8 back in 2020 and in 2012 it was 28.2, so it's been steadily climbing. Their admission rate is also down a bunch, their number of applicants has just more than doubled since 2017.

(09-11-2026 09:10 AM)UIHuskie Wrote:  

(09-11-2026 08:15 AM)epasnoopy Wrote:  There's just no way they haven't lowered their standards to get to an enrollment over 60k. Lots of news articles showing that high school student performance has gone down over the last decade. Students who had 30-34 ACT scores couldn't get admitted there 20-25 years ago. My guess is they have to be letting students in with ACT scores in the 20s now and lower GPAs.

The average ACT score of UIUC's 2026 incoming freshmen class was 31.2. It was 29.8 back in 2020 and in 2012 it was 28.2, so it's been steadily climbing. Their admission rate is also down a bunch, their number of applicants has just more than doubled since 2017.

Does UI break out the scores of in-state students vs all the Chinese students being admitted? I can see the Chinese students boosting that ACT average up. They make up basically 15% of UI's total enrollment.

(09-11-2026 09:07 AM)AnnieGliddenDawg Wrote:  Every single time this gets brought up you absolute morons keep forgetting that the town of Dekalb blows. Theres what like 2 bars for people to go to? You think some 18 year old who's weighing between ISU and NIU is not going look at the party/bar scene? Its the social media age they pick the party scene 9/10. ISU is #83 out of 1,495 party schools in the nation. NIU is #572. Use your brains people.

A dying farm town in the middle of nowhere is a tough sell to get people to go to. I guess the university could start embracing a party school atmosphere and advertise that but you can only do so much with what you have.

Correct, I've brought that up multiple times. Chicago, Bloomington/Normal, etc are just different cities than DeKalb, IL. DeKalb has the same population size as basically 25 years ago and has barely grown.

The housing all around our campus is the same housing that was there when I was a student but just in way worse wear. There's been almost no new growth (residential, business, or otherwise) on the west end of our campus or west on Lincoln Hwy. Annie Glidden Rd and sidewalks are just absolute garbage but run through the middle of our west & central campus. You had a tire shop in disrepair for years just sitting there, they tore it down and now it is just a beat up empty lot at a major intersection. Douglas Hall sits dilapidated on the corner of Lucinda and Annie Glidden.

(09-11-2026 09:07 AM)AnnieGliddenDawg Wrote:  Every single time this gets brought up you absolute morons keep forgetting that the town of Dekalb blows. Theres what like 2 bars for people to go to? You think some 18 year old who's weighing between ISU and NIU is not going look at the party/bar scene? Its the social media age they pick the party scene 9/10. ISU is #83 out of 1,495 party schools in the nation. NIU is #572. Use your brains people.

A dying farm town in the middle of nowhere is a tough sell to get people to go to. I guess the university could start embracing a party school atmosphere and advertise that but you can only do so much with what you have.

News flash for you...

The bar scene is lacking, and no new student apartments are being built, BECAUSE ENROLLMENT IS DOWN.

It all tracks back to Freeman, her policies, strategies and staff.

I went to NIU in the early 90's. Great bar scene, lots of house parties, tailgating was fun, new apartment buildings popped up, BECAUSE CAMPUS WAS FULL, WE WERE AT 20k+ STUDENTS.

More students = better night life and new residential choices in Dekalb. Also, Dekalb seems to doing OK, new data centers, corporate facility proposals... NIU just needs to follow suit and get back to robust enrollment. We have a great main street/classic college town, feels like you're away but can get to the city and burbs quickly. We're in the #3 DMA with solid academic programs, no way 20k+ isn't there for the taking again with good leadership and direction.

(09-11-2026 09:31 AM)epasnoopy Wrote:  Does UI break out the scores of in-state students vs all the Chinese students being admitted? I can see the Chinese students boosting that ACT average up. They make up basically 15% of UI's total enrollment.

Not that I've been able to find anywhere. FWIW, the in-state acceptance rate has been declining. It was 49.8% for the current group of freshmen compared to 67.2% in 2021. Both years roughly 14,600 in-state kids were admitted but the number of applicants in 2026 (29,401) far exceeded 2021 (21,722).

(09-11-2026 10:34 AM)UIHuskie Wrote:  

(09-11-2026 09:31 AM)epasnoopy Wrote:  Does UI break out the scores of in-state students vs all the Chinese students being admitted? I can see the Chinese students boosting that ACT average up. They make up basically 15% of UI's total enrollment.

Not that I've been able to find anywhere. FWIW, the in-state acceptance rate has been declining. It was 49.8% for the current group of freshmen compared to 67.2% in 2021. Both years roughly 14,600 in-state kids were admitted but the number of applicants in 2026 (29,401) far exceeded 2021 (21,722).

That is a whole lot of applicants and enrolled students. Congrats on the growth.

I think UIC is becoming the backup default for kids that can't get into UIUC and that's why they've experienced such large growth too. Plus it helps when you are in a major US city with public transit and tons of activities, bars, and general options for young people.

Unfortunately for NIU, DeKalb is just not an exciting place to go to college. If I weren't a graduate I would never go out to DeKalb except maybe to attend a CFB game as a casual fan. I've been to some Northwestern games at Wrigley Field and their old Ryan Stadium as a casual fan.

(09-10-2026 07:00 PM)DeKalb098 Wrote:  I’ve heard from a pretty reliable source that U of I has made it easier to enroll in order to keep their numbers steady. That hurts the smaller schools as there was a percentage of kids that couldn’t get into U of I that would enroll at NIU. Now they are getting into U of I.

This isn’t correct at all. UIUC undergrad is harder to get into than ever. The number of applications has skyrocketed, academic standards and test scores are the highest ever, and the acceptance rate has plummeted to its lowest ever - it is harder to get into all across the board. Speaking as an Illinois grad, I would not be getting into their business program today (which now has an acceptance rate lower than the engineering program) if I were applying with the high school stars that I had in the 1990s.

Now, UIUC does have a large and growing online grad degree presence and, on that front, you could argue that those are easier to get into than their on-premise counterparts (and that adds a lot to the total overall enrollment that includes both undergrad and grad students). Undergrad admission for UIUC, though, is the toughest that it has ever been.

It’s really UIC that has been taking much more of the undergrad students that don’t get into UIUC. UIC has experienced dramatic growth over the past decade just as the directional schools have been losing students. Out-of-state schools are also aggressively targeting State of Illinois residents. (I see it firsthand with my twins being high school seniors going through the application process now.) Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, etc. - these are Big Ten/power conference schools taking a ton of Illinois students that used to go to the non-UIUC public universities in Illinois a generation ago.

(09-10-2026 09:51 AM)Lynchpin Wrote:  Maybe the Seahawks have an opening for Chief DEI Officer or something she can jump to

She was definitely DEI hire. How the heck is ISU beating us in enrollment? It’s just not a better school.