High school students boost IU enrollment

IU reached record enrollment with 46,817 students this semester, the University announced Wednesday. This figure, however, includes 4,490 high school students also tallied because of changes in a program for high school students seeking college credits with IU.

Excluding high school students taking classes at IU for college credit, record enrollment was announced in fall 2011 with 42,731 students, 404 students more than those currently enrolled.

Though the Advanced College Project has had an online application for four years, this is the first year it has had a modified electronic application that allows students to register for classes more quickly and efficiently, said Kyla Cox, director of public relations and community outreach for the Office of Vice Provost for Undergraudate
Education.

Therefore, this is the first year high school students enrolled in classes with IU have been figured into the University’s official enrollment tally, said Todd Schmitz, executive director of University Institutional Researching and Reporting.

This year, the ACP enrollment date for IU was the same date for actual IU undergraduate students.

This earlier enrollment date increased the chances of high school students to be included in the census, ACP Director Mark Beam said.

“Our goal is to get the student enrolled in the class as soon as they can be registered,” Beam said.

“This allows the program to more closely mirror the IU experience. There’s a specific deadline you have to meet. The students follow the exact course enrollment process as the undergrads do through OneStart.”

ACP offers its students a number of IU classes, including biology, mathematics and economics. These courses use the same syllabi and textbooks as a class being attended on the actual IU campus would.

Students enrolled in the ACP are able to take these courses at their high school campuses. Teachers employed at these high schools learn how to teach the

 course from IU professors, then become certified by the IU departments to teach the courses to high school students, Beam said.

“They really are high school teachers, but they’ve been elevated to teach college courses,” Beam said.

Several hundred high school students are still expected to enroll in IU classes through the ACP after this semester’s census was recorded, Beam said.

Even with the additional ACP students, this year’s census still proves more accurate in tracking the number of enrolled high school students than those in previous years, Schmitz said.

“We have a better sense now of the number of high school students,” Schmitz said.
With the inclusion of high school students, IU enrollment has increased 11.1 percent from last year, according to a press release.

“It’s going to be a one-year blip in reporting, but we’ll have a better sense going forward,” Schmitz said.

Follow greek life reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
— Samantha Schmidt contributed reporting