BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University enrollment this fall semester features the largest freshman class in its nearly 200-year-old history, while the diversity of IU’s student body continues to grow. Minority students now constitute a quarter of IU’s degree-seeking population.
IU campuses welcomed a record 15,909 freshman students, including first-year classes at IU Bloomington (8,097), IUPUI (4,103), IU Kokomo (639) and IU East (455) that set new records.
Furthermore, for the second consecutive year, IU’s student body contains more than 20,000 degree-seeking minority students, setting a new record for diversity at the university. The total of 20,856 degree-seeking minority students includes record numbers of Hispanic/Latino and Asian-American students and the third-highest number of African-American students (including those who have chosen the “two or more races” census category). This represents nearly a doubling of the number of minority students at IU since 2007.
Total official enrollment was 91,515 degree-seeking students on seven campuses, a small decline of 0.7 percent from fall 2017. The students were enrolled in 1,181,974 credit hours. However, when non-degree-seeking students are included – which includes thousands of high school students taking dual credit courses sponsored by the university – IU serves nearly 109,000 students overall statewide, the largest number of any university in the state.
These figures were as of Aug. 27, the official IU census day for the fall semester.
“Indiana University continues to be an extremely attractive choice, especially for Hoosier students, and demand remains strong across all of our campuses as indicated in our record number of freshman students,” IU President Michael A. McRobbie said. “These figures are also testament to efforts all across the university to ensure that an IU education continues to be affordable, accessible, relevant and very well positioned to prepare students for a lifetime of success.
“Our record minority enrollment, which for the second consecutive year topped the 20,000-mark, also reflects our diligent efforts to make IU accessible to all, to recruit minority students and to create the supportive and welcoming environment they find at IU.
“We remain concerned, though, at the continuing decline in the number of international students at IU as other countries are increasingly seen as more attractive alternatives,” McRobbie added. “We will continue to do all we can to sustain and build IU’s international engagement through the diversity of its student body.”
The undergraduate student body continues to comprise about 75 percent of in-state students.
Continued growth of IU Online
The total enrollment figures also indicated that a record 30,023 students, representing nearly a third of this year’s student body and a 4.9 percent increase from last fall semester, are enrolled in at least one online class.
IU Online now offers 124 degree and certificate programs and over 2,000 courses from IU’s seven campuses, all taught and developed by IU faculty. Students taking only online courses also grew to 8,760, or 9.3 percent of IU’s enrollment.
Credit hours from online courses represent 12.1 percent of all credit hours at IU and now represent more than a quarter (26.1 percent) of all credit hours on IU’s regional campuses.
Records for core and regional campuses
The first-year class at IU Bloomington earned a high school grade-point average of 3.83, tying last year’s record, with an average combined SAT/ACT score of 1292, the second highest score. First-year students come from 45 U.S. states and 36 countries on six continents.
For its 50th anniversary year, IUPUI welcomed its largest combined freshman class in Indianapolis, Columbus and the newly added IU Fort Wayne. The average SAT score is 1125 at Indianapolis, where 70.7 percent of in-state students earned the Indiana high school academic honors diploma. Students hail from 33 U.S. states and territories and 59 countries.
IU Bloomington and IUPUI included students from all 92 Indiana counties, underscoring the fact that IU continues to educate more Hoosiers than any other university.
Counting only degree-seeking students, new records were set for enrollment and credit hours at IU East and IU Kokomo; and for minority students at IU Bloomington, IUPUI, IU East, IU Kokomo, IU South Bend and IU Southeast.
“IU’s enrollment figures show the continuing impact of IU’s Bicentennial Strategic Plan, which prioritizes a commitment to student success by keeping tuition and fees low, providing financial assistance, helping students stay on track to graduate and enrolling more students from diverse backgrounds,” said John Applegate, executive vice president for university academic affairs. “All of these initiatives support the strong enrollments in this year’s report.”
IU’s official enrollment counts continue to be impacted by international, national and local trends.
IU suffered a 6.4 percent decline in degree-seeking international students, a trend seen elsewhere across the nation as foreign students see the U.S. as a less attractive destination to pursue their education.
Additionally, first-year transfers are down 5.9 percent, reflecting a declining trend in enrollment at Ivy Tech Community College.
Enrollment facts, degree-seeking students only:
All figures below represent total campus enrollment and total credit hours for degree-seeking students only. As of the 2017 fall semester, IU’s enrollment counts do not include high school students taking dual-credit courses. This change is resulting in figures that are a better indicator of the core changes happening with IU enrollment and that most accurately reflect campus and institutional health, capacity and service.
Indiana University
- 91,515 degree-seeking students, down 0.7 percent.
- 1,181,974 credit hours for degree-seeking students, down 0.4 percent.
- Records for Hispanic/Latino students (6,660, up 6.1 percent from last year), Asian-American students (5,700, up 7.4 percent) and minority students (20,856).
IU Bloomington
- 42,937, down 0.5 percent.
- Freshman class set record for size (8,097, up 1.2 percent).
- 577,209.5 credit hours, down 0.5 percent.
- Records for total minority students (8,748), African-American students (2,520), Hispanic/Latino students (2,587), Asian-American students (3,267) and Native American students (317). The total number of minority students (8,748) represents 23.6 percent of U.S. resident students whose race or ethnicity is known.
IUPUI
- 28,710 students, down 0.3 percent.
- 367,379.5 credit hours, up 0.1 percent and a new record.
- Freshman class set record for size (4,103, up 0.2 percent).
- Records for Hispanic/Latino students (2,109), Asian-American students (1,961) and total minority students (7,427).
IU East
- 3,196 students, up 2.3 percent.
- 36,158 credit hours, up 4 percent.
- New record number of graduate students (168) and credit hours (953).
- Freshman class set new record for size (455, up 14.9 percent).
- The number of degree-seeking domestic minorities set a new record at 413, with records also set for African-American enrollment (224) and international enrollment (52).
- More than 1,500 students are enrolled in online programs.
IU Kokomo
- 2,898 students, up 0.9 percent and a new record.
- 37,463 credit hours, up 2.5 percent and a new record.
- Freshman class set new record for size (639, up 5.6 percent).
- Degree-seeking domestic minority students set a new record (424), constituting 15.2 percent of the student population. Within this group, enrollment for Hispanic/Latino students (155) and African-American students (179) are also records.
- Degree-seeking graduate students set an enrollment record (168).
IU Northwest
- 3,747 students, down 3.7 percent.
- 44,208 credit hours, down 3.7 percent.
- Freshman enrollment is up 11.2 percent.
IU South Bend
- 5,082 students, down 3.4 percent.
- 61,794.5 credit hours, down 3.2 percent.
- Degree-seeking domestic minority students set a new record (1,328, or 27.3 percent of total enrollment), including records for Hispanic/Latino students (578) and Asian-American students (134).
IU Southeast
- 4,945 students, down 2.5 percent.
- 57,761.5 credit hours, down 1.2 percent.
- Freshman enrollment is up 9.2 percent.
- Degree-seeking domestic minority students set a new record (814, or 16.7 percent of total enrollment). Other records included Hispanic/Latino student enrollment (226), total minority enrollment (814) and international enrollment (35).
