Enrollment woes continue, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel....maybe.

Lowest Enrollment in 50 Years

I read the trib article. ISU kicked our butt again, BUT we have more first-time freshmen and more grad students than last year. I'm not a huge fan of getting the underrepresented population as much as we have, because too often they come for a year and drop out, bring their gang banger friends who never leave, and don't contribute after graduation. However, should we should go out and get the best of those kids, and continue to get the best kids we can and continue to sell the university, because we all know it's great. I don't know what we need to do from a marketing perspective, but we need to sell to the burbs to get them back. Hopefully Lisa and her team can get it turned around quickly, and I think they're on the right track.

It’s bad, and it pains me to see this year after year

The ignorant opinion and view by the many is crime. It’s not crime specifically, but if you live and see the area it has been a transitional shift not in the direction that breeds a fun vibrant COLLEGE atmosphere.

Let’s be real, for a school this size we have ONE good college bar.
My old apartment complex is now full of families w/ kids-not a bad thing but not a fun place to live anymore for college
There is an abandoned movie theatre and crap hole of a strip mall in the middle of Greek row
I can keep going

The problem is solved with a boatload of money and someone to knock crap down and rebuild a visually appealing area...but essentially the if you build it they will come approach is not in the cards

The state needs to close one of the directional schools. Eastern would be my first choice as ISU and U of I are closer. The state has limited funds for higher education and currently, U of I and Illinois State are priorities. Having so many underutilized schools pushes the cost of all.

A larger graduating class from 4-5 years ago created the 3% 2019 deficit, so it was basically a "break even year" recruitment-wise, with some good signs in the numbers, and a slight increase in avg. class rank apparently. Looks like we are at the bottom of our curve, with some schools like SIU and SIUE still bleeding.

NIU has no more crime than elsewhere, less than some, the state did this to us. If they can normalize funding, which seems to be the case for now, we just need to lower a shoulder and rebuild.

(09-13-2019 11:50 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  A larger graduating class from 4-5 years ago created the 3% 2019 deficit, so it was basically a "break even year" recruitment-wise, with some good signs in the numbers, and a slight increase in avg. class rank apparently. Looks like we are at the bottom of our curve, with some schools like SIU and SIUE still bleeding.

NIU has no more crime than elsewhere, less than some, the state did this to us. If they can normalize funding, we just need to lower a shoulder and rebuild.

The old greek row/Hillcrest area is appalling. It's reality, not a perception. The grey townhouses area were scary a few years. That off campus dorm building there always drew trouble, even 25 years ago.

How the city and university let that happened is beyond me. The Sec. 8 housing boom. They can partially blame themselves.

While I do not feel that the safety issue is the sole cause of the enrollment issue, it is one factor. The perception of crime, unsafe areas, and gang activity is perception based on reality. Over the past few years, I have talked to no fewer than 10 families who told me they would not send their kids to NIU because of the safety issue. I do not feel that the crime is exaggerated, but if it is, then NIU must engage in a heavy marketing campaign to change the perceptions.

The perception of unsafety has gone back many years, and it seems to have increased in recent years. As mentioned, parents just need to read the crime reports or drive through the Greek Row area on a Saturday night to get a real flavor. NIU and the city of DeKalb need to do a MUCH better job of addressing the causes and cleaning things up. Parents want to feel secure that their kids are as safe as possible on campus (including living quarters). Right now, that feeling of security may not be there - real or perceived.

Eastern's been more innovative in student recruitment and that's led to increases in the size of freshman classes the last couple of years - including a 20% increase in 2018 I think. I can't find the article now, but Eastern's president implemented a new social media presence which is one of the reason's for the turn around. NIU's administation needs to come with more ideas...

It's a marketing problem, and not a marketing communications (the Fourth P) problem. The state schools need to look at all Four Ps (not just Promotion) and work together to start to niche.

Do all four schools need to offer the same majors? Maybe NIU and EIU can offer very good engineering degrees while the others drop theirs. Then Western and Southern could offer great communications programs. ISU and NIU could offer top-flight IT degrees. SIU, EIU and WIU could offer top finance or marketing or nursing programs. On and on and on.

This could lead to each school having more elite majors (i.e. We do Chicken Right) rather than, We Offer What Everyone Else Offers.

Each school would have fewer students, but fewer costs, as well, and might command premium tuition rates. Of course, the teachers will freak, but ultimately, fewer teaching slots would mean higher pay. Many slots could be eliminated by attrition as this would take several years to accomplish.

Illinois can't advertise/PR/social media its way out of this. If they ignore the first three Ps, the fourth P will be useless.

WBBM AM did a story on NIU enrollment decline Thursday morning.

Not worried about the enrollment, what do you think just anyone can get into NIU? This isn't ISU or Illinois.

DeKalb certainly has a violent crime problem but statistically it's less than Champaign and Bloomington. It's just that DeKalb crimes get more publicity in the Chicago media since it's closer. There's a perception that downstate is safe but it can't be further from the truth.

https://lawstreetmedia.com/slideshow-ame...nois-2014/

City Violent Crime Rate Population Violent Crime Murder Forcible Rape Robbery Aggravated Assault
1 East St. Louis 4,992.6 27,040 1,350 17 60 198 1,075
2 Harvey 1,373.8 25,404 349 10 9 205 125
3 Rockford 1,367.76 152,293 2,083 9 124 499 1,451
4 Carbondale 1,001.08 25,972 260 0 29 36 195
5 Danville 994.03 32,997 328 3 42 80 203
6 Springfield 971.56 117,131 1,138 10 76 260 792
7 Champaign 911.11 81,329 741 3 51 135 552
8 Kankakee 858.42 27,609 237 6 26 71 134
9 Chicago Heights 828.35 30,422 252 3 26 115 108
10 Peoria 797.13 115,288 919 10 25 324 560
11 Granite City 577.72 29,772 172 7 17 29 119
12 Rock Island 568.68 39,038 222 4 6 39 173
13 Pekin 514.98 34,176 176 1 19 19 137
14 Bloomington 482.45 77,107 372 1 42 45 284
15 Waukegan 469.44 89,468 420 2 47 160 211
16 Decatur 462.36 76,131 352 6 26 106 214
17 Quincy 462.1 40,684 188 0 26 16 146
18 Alton 449.74 27,794 125 3 14 40 68
19 Cicero 449.58 84,300 379 5 18 183 173
20 De Kalb 448.29 43,722 196 0 34 28 134