Enrollment near record high

Alestle Staff Report

With spring enrollment up 1.2 percent over last spring, one of SIUE's main concerns is retaining new students.

Director of Admissions Boyd Bradshaw said, "Even though our numbers are up, we still have to retain students to live on campus and to fill Bluff Hall."

The 136 student increase is, according to Bradshaw, indicative of the growing enrollment that SIUE has seen over the past several years.

"Our reputation is growing across the state and region," Bradshaw said. "Students and their families are discovering that SIUE offers a quality educational experience at an affordable price."

Bradshaw said he thought the total enrollment, which is now 11,480, would have been larger had the bad weather not kept some part-time students away.

"The cold, snowy weather and bad road conditions that we had for most of December likely kept a large number of students from registering," he said.

Despite the decrease in part-time students, spring enrollment is the largest since 1977. According to Bradshaw, applications for fall are running ahead of schedule, so the growth trend is not likely to stop.