NIU enrollment falls 3.3 percent

DEKALB — Enrollment at Northern Illinois University has fallen 3.3 percent this school year.

NIU released enrollment totals on Wednesday for the new school year. The DeKalb university says the school’s total enrollment is 21,138. That’s 3.3 percent less than the 21,869 that attended NIU in fall 2012. NIU attributes the dip to several factors, including fewer Illinois high school graduates and fewer transfer students.

NIU had a slight increase in the size of its freshman class. Graduate school enrollment increased slightly as well.

NIU’s College of Engineering and Engineering Technology saw a nearly 34 percent increase in graduate students.