Des Moines Register
09-07-06
Colleges look to 'steal' students from outside to further growth
Out-of-state, minority student numbers inch up
BY ERIN JORDAN AND LISA ROSSI
REGISTER STAFF WRITERS
Iowa's public universities have increasingly drawn from outside the state to offset
a dip in the number of homegrown students, officials said Wednesday.
"If you're looking to grow, and there's a stable pattern in Iowa, you've got to steal
students from somewhere else," said Philip Patton, registrar at the University of
Northern Iowa, where non-resident enrollment increased by 1,131 students this
fall. The University of Iowa and Iowa State University saw out-of-state numbers
inch up by less than 1 percent over last fall, the schools reported.
But the U of I was the only public university to report an overall fall enrollment
increase.
According to figures compiled Wednesday:
- The U of I's fall enrollment is 29,979, which is 337 students, or 1 percent, more
than in 2005. The number of freshmen is up 440, or 11 percent, to 4,289.
- Fall enrollment at ISU is 25,462, a decrease of about 1 percent, or 279
students, from last fall. Freshman enrollment increased 214, or 5.7 percent, to
3,983.
- UNI's enrollment is 12,260, down 2 percent from fall 2005. The freshman class
outnumbered last year's by 31, or 1.7 percent.
All three universities boast a higher share of minority students, an ongoing goal
of the Iowa Board of Regents. ISU's minority enrollment of 2,154 helped the
university meet the regents' goal of 8.5 percent for the first time. The U of I
reported a slight gain to about 9.1 percent minority enrollment, and UNI saw an
increase to about 6.2 percent, the registrars reported.
The enrollment drop at ISU and UNI could be attributed to a decline in the
number of Iowa high school students, ISU President Gregory Geoffroy said last
fall. Iowa is expected to have nearly 400 fewer high school seniors in 2010 than
in 2005.
The projected decline has sent Iowa's universities across state lines - Minnesota
and Illinois are fertile recruiting ground - to round out the ranks, officials said. The
U of I plans to open a recruiting office in downtown Chicago, and ISU has hired a
regional recruiter in Illinois.
A growing number of Iowa students have also flocked to lower-cost community
colleges, Geoffroy said. The average student debt for an ISU graduate was
$29,480 in 2004-2005, regents' data shows. Average debt for graduating seniors
at the U of I was $27,235; at UNI, it was $24,291.
Nationally, higher education experts predict enrollments will shift to more
specialized, non-credit programs targeted to job training. That's a trend that John
Curtis, director of research at the American Association of University professors,
cautions against.
"It's dangerous to assume community colleges can take on a broader portion of
the overall environment because they really have a limited mission," he said.
"Their whole resource base is built around the idea they provide the introductory
courses to transfer towards a bachelor's degree.
Fall enrollment
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
2006 — 2005
Overall: 29,979 — 29,642
Undergrads: 20,738 — 20,300
Freshmen: 4,289 — 3,849
Minorities: 2,743 (est.) — 2,678
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
2006 — 2005
Overall: 25,462 — 25,741
Undergrads: 20,440 — 20,732
Freshmen: 3,983 — 3,769
Minorities: 2,154 — 2,123
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA
2006 — 2005
Overall: 12,260 — 12,513
Undergrads: 10,702 — 10,952
Freshmen: 1,768 — 1,737
Minorities: 760 — 756