SIU's president delivered a presentation Friday morning on the future of enrollment in the system.
Dan Mahony spoke in front of a sizable gathering of the SIU-Carbondale campus community in Morris Library's Guyon Auditorium.
He says one aspect of increasing enrollment is getting the word out that despite the widely accepted narrative, the cost of college has dropped in terms of 2023 dollars.
Mahony says a new report indicates 80% of college students don't pay full price at a particular institution.
"My concern always is not only does it create a very negative impression of universities, but it also discourages people from applying because they don't realize if they apply, like I did with my daughter, all of the different financial aid packages they may get and it may be much, much cheaper than that published price."
Mahony admits changing that narrative is difficult.
"One of the things we were talking about over the next couple of days is starting to put together some media things where we'll actually get out there with here's the reality nationally and here's what's happening at SIU, such as the Saluki Commitment and the number of students it will actually meet their needs and they won't pay any tuition if they were to come here."
Mahony says higher education is seeing a lot of growth in the adult population, which is why schools need to create programs that work in their lives.
