Nearly 50,000 students enrolled at IU-Bloomington, a new school record

By: Taj Simmons

BLOOMINGTON — A new school year is underway in Bloomington and there are officially more Hoosiers on campus than ever before.

Indiana University officially counted 48,626 undergraduates at its flagship campus, including a freshman class of just more than 10,000 students.

"It's exciting to see that people do want to come to IU," said Brenda Stopher, the university's vice president of student enrollment. "That says we're doing something right."

More than 5,000 freshmen in Bloomington are from Indiana, which means there are slightly more in-state students than out-of-state students in the incoming class.

Isaiah Julkes, a freshman from East Chicago, said staying in-state to attend IU was his childhood dream.

"In my household, I saw a lot of IU stuff. My mom has IU mugs and IU everything," said Julkes, who is studying kinesiology. "I'm very, very excited. I'm ready to embark on my journey as far as getting these prerequisites out of the way."

Jorana Banzeviciute, a junior from the Northwest Indiana town of Chesterton, said she has no regrets about staying in the Hoosier State for her studies.

"I'm an international studies major and this is a little global club in Indiana," Banzeviciute said. "You don't get that easily, especially in the Midwest, that's just so amazing. Having that interest while not having to travel far and be close to my family, it really struck me."

Stopher said in-state retention is not just important for Indiana University, but for the state itself after the students graduate.

"We're going to help bring well-educated, prepared students to the workforce needs of Indiana," Stopher said.

Beyond Bloomington, IU recorded more than 89,000 students across all of its campuses. When counting all IU branches, more than 70 percent of students are from Indiana.