U of I says freshman class smaller but better

URBANA, Ill. — Freshmen enrollment is down slightly at the University of Illinois’ campus in Urbana-Champaign, but the administration says the incoming students have higher test scores and class ranks than last year.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reported more than 6,900 students are enrolled, compared to about 7,250 last fall. That’s a roughly 4 percent decrease.

But the university says 53.8 percent of the freshmen graduated in the top 10 percent of their class. That’s up from 51.8 percent. The freshmen class boasts an average ACT score of 28.4 and an average SAT score of 1337.

Overall, the university logged another record enrollment year with more than 42,800 undergraduate, graduate and professional students on the Urbana-Champaign campus. That’s up from about 38,000 a decade ago and fewer than 36,000 two decades ago.