Tenth-Day Figures Released

Northern’s 10th-day enrollment report shows student headcount and credit-hour production are virtually identical to last year, but Paul Duby (Institutional Research) said the figures will climb throughout the semester, resulting in an increase for the ninth consecutive year.

The preliminary headcount is 9,353, which is 0.3 percent lower than the 9,379 recorded in 2005.

“Some of our graduate-level offerings and the Public Safety Institute aren’t in this year’s count yet,” Duby said. “Once those are factored in, the final number should settle somewhere between 9,500 and 9,600. I had been projecting 9,700 earlier, but we’re not likely to be able to hit that.”

Another similarity involves the “first-time, full-time baccalaureate freshmen” who enrolled at NMU this fall. Duby said their academic credentials – as measured by ACT scores and grade-point average – are essentially identical to last year. “Considering the 2005 class had the highest ACTs and GPAs ever, it’s safe to say our new students remain very strong academically,” he added.

Of that same group of freshmen (1,366 total), roughly one-third were recruited from outside Michigan: 184 from Illinois, 152 from Wisconsin and 38 from Minnesota.

Other preliminary data shows that 79 percent of the NMU student body is enrolled in baccalaureate programs, 54 percent are female, and 7.4 percent represent ethnic minorities.

According to Duby, the most popular undergraduate academic majors among incoming students, based on enrollment, are: nursing, with 592 students; art and design, 500; elementary education, 342; and criminal justice, 336.