Date: September 9, 2003
Contact: Carol Connelly, Director, Media & Communication Services, ext. 5267, cconnelly@pnc.edu

PNC Increases Full-Time Student Numbers

WESTVILLE – Purdue University North Central has continued its trend of recent years as a growing portion of its student body is composed of full-time students.

The fall 2003 semester includes 2,031 full-time students who are taking 12 or more credit hours of classes, representing 58.5 percent of all PNC students. This marks a record percentage of full-time students on campus. In turn, another record was set this semester at PNC, as students averaged 10.3 credit hours each. The overall number of credit hours taken on campus has grown 14.8 percent since 1998.

In all, 3,469 students are enrolled at PNC, taking a total of 35,764 credit hours.

“We are happy to see that full-time students are making PNC their university of choice,” said Chancellor James B. Dworkin. “During the past few years we’ve added a number of bachelor’s degree programs that have attracted more full-time students to our campus. We serve all students who seek to become part of the enduring Purdue tradition and enjoy the world-class education that PNC provides.”

Overall enrollment fell slightly from last year’s fall semester enrollment of 3,657 students, who took 36,538 credit hours.

“This small decrease was not unexpected,” said Dworkin. “Last May we had a record number of 465 students graduate from PNC. At the same time, the number of students graduating from area high schools in 2003 dropped, creating a smaller pool of freshmen college students. Plus, the uncertain economy probably deterred some students from enrolling.”

Purdue North Central also recently received word that U.S. News and World Report again rated it second in its peer group as graduating students with the least amount of debt. According to U.S. News, a full 61 percent of PNC graduates have no debt at graduation. The 39 percent of students who do graduate with debt owe an average of $8,270.

“The fact that 61 percent of our students have no debt at all at graduation confirms that PNC is a great value. We provide a quality Purdue education at an affordable price,” said Dworkin.

In terms of gender, females outnumber males by 2,071 to 1,398. A record number of 456 minority students enrolled this fall, representing 13.4 percent of the student population. The average age of Purdue North Central students is 26. There are 24 students pursuing graduate studies.

Once again, the largest number of students, 798, list Valparaiso as home, 605 are from LaPorte and 538 from Michigan City. Chesterton is home to 259 students and 155 have Starke County addresses. Most of the remaining students give home addresses in rural LaPorte, Porter, Lake, St. Joseph, Jasper, Pulaski and Marshall counties and 33 live out of state.

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