By Blake Haas
NORMAL – Illinois State University is setting record numbers for its incoming freshman class, but the school’s top brass is also touting other enrollment numbers.
“The big class for us is this incoming freshman class. We have about as many transfer students that we had a year ago; we’ve got just under 1,800 new transfers that are joining us newley this fall. But, we’ve got almost 4,000 freshmen, and so it’s that freshman class that’s really the largest we’ve had since 1986,” Jeff Mavros, the Director of Admissions, said on the afternoon show.
The university’s total student population includes 17,674 undergraduates and 2,559 graduate students.
“This is our most diverse class we’ve enrolled in the history of the institution. So 37% of this incoming class comes from traditionally underrepresented populations in higher ed., and that brings our overall enrollment to about 30% of our total student body is none white. It’s a core value of the institution,” added Mavros. “Certainly, I think people can understand that when you get people together in a community like ours, a learning community, and a living community, where they have different backgrounds, and that means all kinds of diversity.
When you bring people with different experiences and lived experiences, it just enriches the day-to-day for everyone involved.”
According to Mavors, the key to recruiting the record-breaking class is the ability to hit the road with recruiters in an easing pandemic.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
