A pair of Jacksonville colleges have released enrollment numbers after ten days of classes.
Anyone familiar with the student body of Illinois College will notice a plethora of new faces on campus.
The total undergraduate enrollment at Illinois College is at 956 this year.
Vice President of Enrollment and Marketing Stephanie Chipman says 293 of those are first year students, and that translates to the third largest class in Illinois College history.
Chipman says there are a lot of great things going on at Illinois College this year.
“We launched our Finish in Four program, where students are guaranteed to finish in four years or IC will pay for their classes they need to finish that fifth year. We have some amazing facilities and staff dedicated to our students. It is a tumultuous time for higher education the state. Families are looking around at state schools and wondering what the future will look like. It has never been a better time to invest in a private liberal arts education,” says Chipman.
Illinois College’s new crop of students consists of 14 international students.
As for MacMurray College, the Highlanders received an increased amount of incoming freshman, totaling 182. MacMurray’s overall enrollment dropped slightly compared to 2015, from 571 to 552 students.
In a press release, MacMurray President Mark Tierno expressed that, “with all the challenges in higher education today, especially in the State of Illinois, I am satisfied that our enrollment only saw a three and a half percent change.”
Tierno pointed out that MacMurray has revamped their scholarship program and elevated academic requirements for entrance, which has yielded a higher caliber of student for 2016.
MacMurray’s new class has an average high school grade point average of 3.26, more than a quarter point increase from last year’s entering class.