Enrollment in IU schools fluctuating

A lot has changed since 1985. Back then, there was no Internet, Johnny Carson still hosted "The Tonight Show" and the IU men's basketball team made it to the final game of the NIT. Since then, IU has seen countless other changes, in particular student enrollment in the different schools on campus.\nWhile total IU-Bloomington enrollment has increased 14 percent during the last 20 years, most schools, including the College of Arts and Sciences, have seen increases that are more substantial. Part of that increase comes on the heels of University Division's enrollment decrease of 23 percent -- meaning more students are choosing degrees faster.\nThe degrees students choose the most are more often "profession oriented," such as those in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Student enrollment in HPER has nearly tripled in the past 20 years, growing from 687 in 1985 to 1,885 at the beginning of this year. This growth can be credited to several factors, HPER Dean David Gallahue said, including a desire to have a career-oriented major. \n"I think that's happened over time," he said. "I think because of the cost of an education, the first thing parents are asking is 'Can you get a job?'"\nGallahue pointed to the quality of teaching, career counseling and course advising as factors that have led to HPER growing faster than any other school at IU. Also, he said, there has been growing student interest in health and the school's motto of "living well."\n"There's probably nothing more important to any of us than our health," he said. "And, basically, all our professions are about health or living well in some form."\nOf the 20-year increase, HPER has seen a growth of almost 30 percent in the past two years. Gallahue said this can be partially attributed to the events of Sept. 11. \n"After 9-11 we all did a gut search as to what's really important," Gallahue said.\nHe claimed Americans concluded that family, country and fellow citizens are among the things of most importance. This has led students to want careers that give back to the community, not just to their pocketbooks, he said.\n"Most of our professions are very middle-class professions, but they are very giving professions," Gallahue said.\nNot all schools are experiencing consistency in their numbers. The School of Public and Environmental Affairs has seen enrollment numbers that dropped significantly from 1,004 in 1985 to 699 in 1989, but then increase to 1,316 this year. Roger Parks, professor and director of Ph.D. programs in Public Affairs and Public Policy, said the decrease was due to a faculty review of the program conducted in the mid-1980's, which concluded that there were too many students and not enough faculty to teach them. This caused SPEA to raise its admission standards.\n"We just stopped admitting as many students," Parks said.\nSubsequently, SPEA's numbers rose again due to a new university policy requiring more student enrollment to garner more University funding. This funding was needed to pay new faculty members, Parks said. This year enrollment is at 1,316, 270 more than before the decrease. \nOther schools are just now beginning to see decreases after having traditionally strong enrollment numbers. The School of Education's enrollment has been on a steady increase over the past 20 years but saw a slight drop-off in the last two years. Timothy Niggle, director of student and information management services for the School of Education, said other than the natural ebb and flow of students entering education, the school made a major change in its programs to meet state guidelines, causing an increase in student enrollment.\n"A lot of students rushed to get into the old programs," Niggle said. "So we kind of had an artificially inflated number of students in the old programs, and now we've had an almost identical drop off of students in the new programs."\nAnd alongside old standards, newer schools on campus are coming into their own. The School of Journalism was formerly a department of the College of Arts and Sciences but became independent in 1989. Before then, journalism majors received a bachelor of arts degree. When the new School of Journalism was formed, it created a new bachelor's in journalism degree that had higher admissions standards and more degree requirements. This caused enrollment to decrease.\n"We did that deliberately because we felt we were getting more majors than we could handle both in terms of the size of our faculty and in terms of the facilities, classroom space and equipment," said Trevor Brown, dean of the School of Journalism.\nSince 1995, the School of Journalism's enrollment has increased 24 percent. Brown said he believes this increase is due to the increased visibility of the School of Journalism once it became independent, and he said he believes the increase admissions standards made the school more attractive to prospective students. Also, he said, an increase in the number of students, particularly female students, interested in public relations, advertising and magazines, may be leading to increased enrollment in the School of Journalism. The school has a female to male ratio higher than most others. Brown, like Gallahue, speculated that an increased desire of students and parents for career-oriented degrees may be leading to increased enrollment in all professional schools.\n"I do think there's been an increase in pressure coming from society, from the students, from the parents, to get an education in college that has a more direct line on a job and career than on learning for learning's sake," Brown said. "It's sort of learning for earning's sake."\n-- Contact Staff Writer David Charles at dacharle@indiana.edu.