IU Southeast’s enrollment, credit hours boom to record high

Grad student enrollment up 17 percent

Another high is the number of credit hours in which students have enrolled, which is 57,562.5—a 4.9 percent increase over last year’s figure.

IU Southeast experienced increases in all areas, but particularly in the number of graduate students, which jumped 17.4 percent to 649 over last fall’s number of 552. Reciprocity has seen the number of Kentucky students rise to 1,049 over last year’s enrollment of 896.

Chancellor F. C. Richardson said the growth reflected both the hard work of faculty and staff with recruitment and retention of students and the recognition by prospective students of the high quality of the campus’ academic programs. Normally during a strong economy and high employment, enrollments at regional universities decline; but the number of students attending IU Southeast at both the graduate and undergraduate levels continues to grow.

The enrollment jump can be attributed to a number of things, said Joelyn Ainley, vice chancellor for student affairs at IU Southeast. “Our reputation is really now starting to permeate both sides of the river,” Ainley said. “Word of mouth is a very valuable tool. Our students are pleased with the quality of education and service that they get here.” She added that students shouldn’t be fooled by the tremendous increases.

“We still provide the quality, individualized service for which we’ve been noted,” she said.

Ainley also mentioned the university’s efforts to implement a very deliberate marketing strategy, which uses limited dollars wisely to spread the word about IU Southeast’s attributes to prospective students on both sides of the Ohio River.

One example, Ainley noted, was IU Southeast’s first billboard design and placement at various locations in Louisville. “It really shows the beauty of our campus,” Ainley said.

With enrollment increases in all areas, Ainley noted that IU Southeast is not only attracting new students but retaining them.

IU Southeast experienced the largest percentage enrollment increase of all the IU campuses. IU Bloomington experienced a record number in its incoming freshman class with 6,936 enrolled there—a 5.4 percent increase over last year. Increases were also seen at IU campuses in Kokomo, South Bend and Richmond.

IU President Myles Brand noted a strong reputation of quality academic programs university-wide. The record enrollment at IU Bloomington, the record number of credit hours at IUPUI and the continued rapid growth at IU Southeast are all particularly noteworthy, but significant gains also have been realized on several other campuses. IU’s regional campuses are doing an excellent job of working closely with local residents and providing the programs that their communities need, Brand said.