If SIUC administrators were happy about enrollment numbers at the beginning of the semester, chances are they are even more excited now.
Although fall enrollment numbers showed enrollment is still down from its highest enrollment in 1991, as of Monday the university's enrollment was up another 29 students from the beginning of the fall semester.
Larry Schilling, director of Institutional Research and Studies, said the university experiences mid-semester enrollment increases every year.
Schilling said this is partially because of off-campus courses, which often begin later in the semester than on-campus classes.
"It's pretty much an artificial line in the sand, but it is federally mandated that we take a count on that day. But it's certainly not the end of people enrolling," Schilling said of the 10-day enrollment numbers.
Chancellor Fernando Treviño said he doesn't know what to attribute the increase to, but was excited about the change.
He said the university has increased its recruitment efforts, which may have led to higher numbers. Treviño also attributed some of the success to the efforts of Barking Dawg Productions, a group focused on marketing the university in alternative forms.
Schilling said the university freezes enrollment numbers at the end of the semester in order to have a final count.
"We get everybody's grades and we store historically also just like that tenth day so we have two frozen historical files each semester," Schilling said. "There's usually more students involved in that count at the end of the term than there were on the tenth day, and that's standard."
Christian Holt can be reached 536-3311 ext. 268 or cholt@siu.edu.
