Date:Sept. 1, 2005
Contact: Carol Connelly, Director, Media & Communication Services, ext. 5267, cconnelly@pnc.edu

PNC Increases Student Numbers, Sets Credit Hour Record

WESTVILLE - Purdue University North Central set an all-time credit hours record for fall semester of 2005. The semester started Aug. 22 and the campus now has 3,520 total students, a 2.3 percent increase over the fall of 2004. PNC students include 2,067 full-time students, marking the third consecutive year that the campus has registered a record numbers of full-time students.

In all, PNC students are enrolled in a record 36,594 credit hours, a two percent increase over last fall’s total. Students are taking an average of 10.4 credit hours each. In addition, the number of first-time freshman enrolled is 683, a 6.22 percent jump from fall semester 2004. The average PNC student is 25 years old. There are 1,453 males and 2,067 females enrolled, with 504 minority students, 14.3 percent of the student body.

“We are happy to see that full-time students are making PNC their university of choice. Our campus has a wonderful blend of students from throughout Northwest Indiana. We are also very pleased to see our number of part-time students increase 5 percent over last fall,” said Chancellor James B. Dworkin.

The PNC freshman class includes a number of academically talented students - 15 freshman students graduated as one of the top 10 members of their respective high school graduating class, including one valedictorian and one salutatorian. Sixty-one students are PNC Merit Scholarship recipients and 86 of the new freshmen graduated from high school with an academic honors diploma, the most rigorous diploma an Indiana high school student can earn.

The most popular programs of study include business with 583 students; nursing with 241 students; elementary education with 195 students and liberal studies with 192 students.

Once again, the largest number of students, 844, list Valparaiso as home, 621 are from LaPorte and 509 are from Michigan City. Chesterton/Porter is home to 238 students; 166 students are from Lake County and 117 have Starke County addresses. Most of the remaining students give home addresses in rural LaPorte, Porter, St. Joseph, Jasper, Pulaski and Marshall counties.

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