NIC enrollment numbers continued climbing upward this fall, mirroring the record-breaking trend of the last few years.
Fall enrollment is up 6.4 percent from the fall 2010 semester, which saw an increase of 12.16 percent over fall 2009.
Last semester, Vice President of Student Services Sheldon Nord attributed the increase in enrollment to the economy.
“College enrollment tends to go up with a recession,” he said.
This semester, NIC’s student body is composed of 3,465 full-time students and 3,286 part-time students.
Women continue to outnumber men, with NIC enrollment at 61 percent female and 39 percent male. In previous semesters, men had seen an increase; in spring 2011, men made up 41 percent of the total enrollment, which was an increase of 1 percent from the spring of 2010.
The average age of the NIC student is 27 this semester, a change from the spring 2011 semester’s average age of 28.
The dual-enrollment program, which allows high school students to take NIC courses for both college and high school credit, now consists of 646 students. Lake City High School continues to contribute the greatest percentage, followed, in order, by Coeur d’Alene High, Lakeland High, Post Falls High, home-schooled students, Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy, Timberlake High and Kellogg High.
This semester, 654 students come from Bonner County, 238 from Boundary County, 234 from Shoshone County and 293 from other Idaho counties.
The greatest number of students continues to come from Idaho, but NIC now has 370 students from Wash. and 100 from Mont. There are currently 235 students from other states.
Of enrolled students, the greatest number, at 32 percent, is19 or younger. Students between the ages of 20 and 24 make up 24 percent, and students 25-34 years of age consist of 23 percent. 21 percent of NIC students are 35 or older.
