Record enrollment for incoming freshman class at University of Illinois

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The ABC7 I-Team has obtained new data points that reveal an evolution underway at Illinois' flagship university. The new numbers show who is attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign these days and why is it changing in some key demographic areas.

The top brass at U of I is flying high after a new admission trend. Numbers we've just obtained show more and more students from Illinois are going to U of I. Foreign students remain attracted to the Urbana-Champaign campus, but those numbers are shifting some.

"We have record enrollment for the incoming freshman class, extremely strong representation from Illinois at 74% of the class," said Provost John Coleman.

Freshman enrollment for 2023 includes 6,100 incoming students from Illinois who just arrived for the fall term.

"We want to be able to serve the state of Illinois as best as we possibly can. So, we're really pleased to see that number and see that percentage. We've created the opportunity here for students to stay in Illinois and get an education right here," said Coleman.

Almost 1,100 students from other states are new freshman on campus, and about 1,100 from other countries.

China remains the overwhelming foreign feeder nation. Almost 57% of overseas U of I students are from China. But it is a portion of the student population that has fallen some in recent years, ever since 2017 when a Chinese scholar was kidnapped from a U of I bus stop and then murdered. The story received global attention. Chinese student enrollment dipped.

"We're probably at about the peak that we will be at, for the percentage of students that come from China. As we're looking at other countries as well, we want to be able to recruit from, so we probably have hit that sort of plateau point," said Coleman.

Other countries, notably India, are now rising to send the second highest number of overseas students to U of I, surpassing South Korea as a feeder nation.

Nearly a quarter of incoming U of I freshman are first generation college students.

"It is the talent of these students, the determination of their families, the advising that they got along the way, and in high school. And this is something that we emphasize, we want to make sure this is the University of opportunity," said Coleman.

U of I is popular. This year 67,398 students applied there. Obviously, most of them didn't get in.

One side-stat that has the attention of university officials is that there are 102 counties in Illinois but 14 counties produced no freshman enrollees this year. U of I officials said as they try to figure out why, they plan to put "boots on the ground" in those under-represented counties to cultivate some applicants who chose Illinois next year.