A DECADE OF DOWNSIZING.  The Northern Star investigates dwindling enrollments at Northern Illinois University.

In fall 2006, 25,313 students were enrolled at NIU- the peak of the university's enrollment between fall 2001 and fall 2010. Four years later, enrollment at NIU would stand at 23,850, only 67 students more than the fall 2001 figure of 23,783.

The drop in enrollment from fall 2006 to fall 2010 accounts for a difference of 1,463 students.

In fall 2001, an economics department meeting included fourteen faculty members. A fully-attended meeting today includes eleven. Perhaps we have reason to be tired.

NIU's target enrollment for next fall is 23,768, said Brian Hemphill, vice president of Student Affairs and Enrollment
Management.

Headquarters would like to further build that enrollment, aiming at 25,400 by fall 2015.

"A part of that is just looking at the size and scope and growth of the institution," Hemphill said. "When you think about our facilities, when you think about our infrastructure, we have an optimal size, and the 25,000 mark is our optimal size for the institution."

The target enrollment was set through the Enrollment Management Strategic Planning process, Hemphill said. The strategic plan has yet to be unveiled. In the past, the Enrollment Management Council would set the enrollment target number and recommend it to the president each year.

The plan mentions facilities and infrastructure. I have not yet received the memo that promises the next department head an opportunity to recruit for five or six tenure-track lines.