NIU unveils new enrollment plan to address student retention amid COVID-19 pandemic

DeKALB – Northern Illinois University this week unveiled a new Strategic Enrollment Management Plan, which university officials said is meant to address declining enrollment and student retention, an issue that’s plagued NIU for years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plan is an updated version of the university’s original 5-year plan, which was unveiled three years ago. Officials said the new plan is in response to the pandemic, and prioritizes on-campus experiences.

“While many of the goals and strategies of SEM Plan 2.0 are similar to its predecessor, the new plan notably puts increased emphasis on student persistence, student-campus connections and the mental, physical, social and emotional needs of our current and future students,” NIU Executive Vice President and Provost Beth Ingram said in a news release.

Under the previous plan, NIU saw an 11.6% increase in new freshmen students during the fall of 2021 with an average high school GPA of 3.34. However, retention of Fall 2020 first-year students slipped by about 5 percentage points below the pre-pandemic level, resulting in a dip in NIU enrollment, according to the university.

NIU enrollment peaked over the past decade in 2009, when there were 24,424 students enrolled and has since trended downward, according to records. In 2018, enrollment was at 17,169, and came in at 16,609 in 2019. A 2020 increase was recorded despite the global pandemic, bolstered by a freshmen class that added 160 students and brought the total enrollment to 16,769. That growth, however, was again crippled in 2021, which officials attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new strategic plan is meant to address enrollment and retention at the freshmen first-year level, officials said this week.

“Switches in learning modalities and personal technology challenges – along with financial, time-management and personal stresses brought on by the pandemic – made learning during the pandemic challenging for our students, particularly freshmen and first-generation students,” Ingram said.

The new strategic plan is the university’s response to challenges which officials said were identified by NIU students, faculty and staff. A special committee was created to help formulate the plan, made up of individuals representing a variety of areas across the campus, including from each college.

“We proactively reached out to the campus community and encouraged and received excellent feedback, particularly focused on student success,” Sol Jensen, NIU vice president for Enrollment Management, Marketing and Communications, said in the news release. “It was especially important to hear directly from our students.”

The new strategic enrollment plan will focus on transitioning students from high school to college, helping students connect to NIU opportunities, student resources and prioritizing what NIU officials said was a collaborative approach to “that celebrates the diverse lived experiences that make up the Huskie community.”

The plan also prioritizes student experiences inside and out of the classroom, equity and inclusion. According to NIU, the plan will also address specific areas of student experiences including delayed learning, lack of engagement, a sense of belonging, varied learning styles, navigating college environments and expectations, offering financial support for students and resources for physical and emotional health.

“Our strategies to address the needs of our diverse student population will require concerted efforts,” Vernese Edghill Walden, chief diversity officer and vice president for Academic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, said in a news release. “This will include high-touch advising, expansion of professional development opportunities for faculty, increased assistance to students to improve their grades and an equity-minded approach to all of our endeavors.”

Ingram said the student experience is a focal point of the plan, to help connect students to on-campus faculty, colleagues and mentors for a support network.

NIU also will increase use of its online student experience management platform called Navigate, which helps engage students and point them toward needed resources. The platform also helps alert NIU staff to when a student might need additional academic support or referrals, according to NIU’s website.

According to the plan, additional resources to highlight inclusivity and equity, as well as financial aid will be prioritized more. That will include the university’s Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center, and a new Office of Student Financial Advising Services, which will aim to provide what the university calls “trauma-informed racial healing and restorative justice practices,” and improved financial advising.

The plan also highlights a need to improve NIU campus pride, including branding changes and activities.

“The achievements of our students, employees, alumni and university as a whole, including all of our incredible efforts during the pandemic disruption, provide us with much to be proud of,” Jensen said. “We want to leverage our brand, identity and many advocates to celebrate the accomplishments of NIU and, above all, the value of an NIU education.”