That's at least what is happening at Northern Illinois University according to its student newspaper. What we need to do, says the editorial is find a way to get only the students who should be there to be there.

One reason so many students chose to come here is because of the admissions requirements. For next year�s admissions, the university should look to raise its standards. For example, require a higher ACT/SAT score or raise the grade point average requirement.

Another reason for the high enrollment could be because of the bad economy. When people can�t find good jobs, they usually go back to school to improve on their skills.

There is nothing wrong with that; but students who go here should have a plan and not just be here to waste time.

NIU is a good state university. It should not be thought of as a safety school or a school that anyone can get into.

Cold Spring Shops (my source for this story) notes that perhaps they've been seeing the empty seats in Friday classes. Stephen also wonders why we don't propose that administrators come back to class. We have some administrators back teaching here -- our dean teaches a history class for free, for instance -- but while this might add a few seats, it does nothing to reduce costs when you bear huge decreases. Stephen and I will be trading fours on this topic for awhile to come, as it appears NIU is in the same boat we are ... except we managed to alienate enough incoming students that we're more than 10% short of our first year enrollment yield. Somehow, I get this feeling that raising tuition 15% and lowering enrollment might have something to do with demand curves. I could be mistaken.