Fall enrollment at the University of Illinois is up over 77-thousand this fall, setting a record for the 3-campus system.
That figure is up 1-point-2 percent over a year ago. Urbana campus enrollment went up nearly 2-percent.
The total of nearly 45-thousand students includes the largest freshman class on the flagship campus' history. Meanwhile, Springfield campus enrollment was up half-a percent. Overall enrollment on the Chicago campus was up point-3 percent, but the number of freshman enrolling went down more than 5-percent.
U of I President Tim Killeen hailed the rise in enrollment -- despite uncertainty in state funding -- at Thursday's university Trustees meeting on the Urbana campus.
"Our continuing enrollment gains are especially remarkable, we feel, considering the financial climate in which we're operating. Despite a year of headlines about a state budget impasse that has significantly reduced state support, students are flocking to our universities in record numbers."
The total U of I campus enrollment is expected to top 81-thousand when online students are accounted for later this year.
The announcement came about the same time as news that freshman enrollment at Eastern Illinois University had dropped sharply. EIU reported a drop in freshman enrollment of 25-percent... to just over 12-hundred students. Overall enrollment at the school in Charleston was off 2-point-6 percent, to just over 74-hundred students.
