This year's incoming class at Eureka College represents the largest number of freshman (159) enrolled at the private liberal arts school.
And nearly half of 242 new students at the Woodford County-based college are both first-generation and low income, the college said in a news release earlier this week.
Although many colleges and universities wait until the 10th day of the semester has passed to report their enrollment data, Eureka College spokesperson Melody Crickman said the institution released the information early to "fully acknowledge the work that our recruitment teams, admissions, athletics (and) everybody involved does in recruiting students."
The 242 students comprise the second-largest total incoming class in recent years and also includes the most out-of-state students ever enrolled at the school — 89 students representing 26 states.
Forty-one percent of the new students come from underrepresented racial or ethnic backgrounds, the release said.
“We are excited to welcome such a large fall cohort to Eureka College, thanks to the amazing work of our Admissions and Athletics teams,” Eureka president Jamel Wright said in a statement. “This is a diverse class that includes ambitious and resilient learners from a wide variety of backgrounds, and we can’t wait to see how they make their mark.”
Crickman said Eureka — a small, liberal arts college hoping to defy the fate of peer institutions who have struggled or shut their doors entirely — emphasized out-of-state and athletics-based recruitment efforts to bolster its numbers.
"Unfortunately, Illinois is still a net exporter of students, so we've leaned into recruiting from out-of-state as well and that has helped us," she said. "We actually have a little less than triple the out-of-state students we've had in recent years."
Eureka College also hired a wave of new coaches in the past year for its women's basketball and baseball and football programs.
Crickman also said that increased state spending on the Monetary Award Program — or MAP grants — have helped offset the private school's tuition costs for students. Illinois' 2025 budget allotted over $710 million in funding for the program that provides low-income college students with funding that doesn't have to be paid back to the state.
