For the spring 2012 semester, IU Southeast released its enrollment numbers, which decreased by 3.7 percent.

IU Southeast held its first day of spring classes on Jan. 9, and the Official State Census was completed on Jan. 21, which took place at IU Bloomington.

While IU Southeast will release the official enrollment numbers early next week, the preliminary numbers have yet to be gathered first.

“With students still dropping and adding classes, it is difficult to know an exact enrollment number at this time,” said Chris Crews, acting director for Admissions.

The total enrollment numbers not only include head count, but it compares both semesters from previous years.

Also, the number of credit hours students take is factored. However, the enrollment numbers are not compared between spring and fall semesters.

Enrollment from spring 2011 to spring 2012 overall decreased, bringing the numbers from 6,800 to 6,547. Undergraduate enrollment also fell by 4.4 percent.

Crews said the inconvenience of a new route along with the traffic due to the Sherman Minton Bridge closing could have kept people from wanting to commute.

“There was a slight decrease from last year for the spring semester,” said Crews. “Although we cannot say for sure why there was a decrease, I think it is because of the bridge being closed down.”

A significant amount of students who are enrolled at IU Southeast come from Louisville.

On Sept. 9, 2011, the Sherman Minton Bridge closed down indefinitely, which is part of Interstate 64, running from Southern Indiana to Kentucky.

Brandi Smith, criminal justice freshman, is from downtown Louisville.

“I can get to school in 15 minutes on a good day,” Smith said, “but I have been stuck in traffic for up to two hours before because of the bridge being closed down.”

Smith now lives on campus and said she chose to live at IU Southeast so she would not have to drive back and forth in the traffic every day.

“Next year I will be living at home,” Smith said, “I hope they have the bridge fixed by then.”

Smith said she came to IU Southeast for several reasons, including the in-state fee.

“Even though I’m from Louisville, I was able to come to IU Southeast for in-state tuition,” Smith said. “I also love how small the campus is and that I can get to all my classes in less than five minutes.”

However, students from Louisville are not the only ones who play a part in enrollment.

“In the spring we usually get more transfer students, but this year we had a decrease,” Crews said. “The bad economy could have something to do with it.”

However, there is no way to know exactly why the numbers are down without interviewing every student who did not return, commute or transfer.

Enrollment projections are also based on academic enrollment for the whole year, and spring enrollment is just a part of it.

“Yes, the spring enrollment is down,” Crews said, “that does not mean the numbers will be down for the year as a total.”

Although most of the enrollment numbers decreased, the graduate enrollment increased by 1.6 percent.

By TIFFANY ADAMS

Staff

adamstif@ius.edu