Off-campus program numbers may not have been included in estimate Breakdown_09.12_AE

With the second anniversary of Sept. 11 fresh in the minds of many Americans, the heroics of U.S. troops have not been forgotten by the masses.

Soldiers who have been deployed or have extra responsibilities due to the war in Iraq are often forced to put school aside to handle work responsibilities.

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The enrollment numbers released last week for SIU show a decrease of 463 students for the fall semester. But with President Bush promising the return of America’s troops, enrollment numbers at SIUC should see an increase.

A large portion of the drop in numbers came from off-campus students, who include students enrolled in the military programs.

The decrease in off campus numbers is nothing to cause alarm since the figure tends to fluctuate from year to year, according to University Spokeswoman Sue Davis.

Davis said it is important to focus on the positive:SIU’s on-campus numbers have remained relatively flat with only a 23-student decrease.

“We have deliberately tried to increase the academic level of students and succeeded,” Davis said.

She also mentioned the amount of freshmen and academic indicators across the board are increasing.

Keith Hillkirk, dean of education and human services, said he does not have a projected number of students who will enroll in the college’s off-campus program but does not expect numbers to be drastic as the 580 students that were predicted earlier.

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“It’s complicated. Part of the problem is the way the state requires enrollment to recorded by the 10th day of the semester,” Hillkirk said. “But with off-campus programs, a number of classes haven’t started by the 10th day.”

Hillkirk said the College of Workforce Education, which is in its 25th year, does not begin its first teaching weekend until this week,

“This is a good program, a very strong program,” Hillkirk said. “We’ve had 1,000s and 1,000s of students – somewhere in the neighborhood of 25,000 – who have completed the degree in the off-campus program just in our college.”

The College of Workforce Education is among three colleges that offer classes through the Military Program. The College of Applied Sciences and Arts and the College of Industrial Technology also offer courses.

George Swisher, dean of engineering, said that although enrollment numbers from his college have remained steady at 212 this year, military programs in general have seen a decrease in numbers.

“Our numbers started to drop right after 9/11,”Swisher said. “Some of them being deployed and some of them just having to work seven days a week because they were short-handed and the amount of activity was greater.

They took on twice as much work and just couldn’t take the classes on the weekend.”

Classes offered through the military program are held in a weekend format and generally run all day Saturday and Sunday with one or two weekends off during the semester.

“This makes for a very, very packed lifestyle,” Swisher said.

The majority of students in the industrial technology program are Air Force personnel.

Dover Air Force Base has the highest enrollment with 40 students, while Edwards Air Force Base has the lowest with 12 students.

“We’re hoping it will get better as soldiers are being brought back from Afghanistan,” Swisher said. “We’re hearing back from bases that we should expect more students in January. They have some students back, but they want to get re-acclimated to being stateside and they aren’t ready to jump back into classes yet.”

Reporter Amber Ellis can be reached at [email protected]