University of Southern Indiana's enrollment is up – and down, figures show

EVANSVILLE – The University of Southern Indiana touted increases in its overall and first-time freshmen enrollment on Monday. That uptick, though, doesn’t extend to its number of undergraduates.

In a news release, USI tallied its total enrollment – undergrad, graduate and dual-credit – at 9,489: a 2.2% increase from last year. There were also jumps in first-time freshmen (up 3%), the number of students transferring from other schools (up 6.6%) and graduate enrollment itself (up 1.7%).

One figure the release doesn’t specifically state, though, is undergraduate enrollment.

When the Courier & Press reached out to USI, spokeswoman Kaylee Johnson put that number at 5,347: a slight drop from the same time in 2023, when the university counted 5,409 undergrads.

That continues years of undergrad decreases at USI which, like schools across the country, has fielded fewer students since the 2010s.

In 2022, school officials reported 5,539 undergraduates – a 9.1% decrease from the 6,093 a year before. That itself was a 9.6% drop from the 6,739 in 2020.

When did USI enrollment peak?

The university set a record for total enrollment in 2011, when 10,820 students were counted on the rolls, according to Courier & Press archives. That was a more than 1,800-student increase from 2000, when the official enrollment hovered just over 9,000. And it was a giant leap from 1990, when total enrollment stood at 6,480.

But that boom in higher education has deflated across the U.S. in the last decade or so.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, total undergraduate enrollment nationwide dropped 15% between 2010 and 2021. The majority of that came in the teeth of the COVID-19 pandemic, when enrollment plummeted at some institutions – especially two-year colleges.

Those numbers have started to creep up again in the last two years, the Washington Post reported in January.

In the past, USI officials have attributed recent dips to everything from being more selective in its admissions – “USI is focusing on admitting students more likely to succeed here,” then-director of admissions Eric Ott said in 2012 – to the pandemic to fewer Indiana high school grads choosing to attend college.

Monday’s release, however, was optimistic, with officials praising the uptick in certain enrollment areas and lauding an increasingly diverse student body.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: University of Southern Indiana's enrollment is up – and down