Though the UI’s overall enrollment has dropped for the third-consecutive year, officials say they are willing to sacrifice a larger student population in order to retain high quality education.

Enrollment dropped by fewer than 1 percent, from 30,561 in fall of 2008 to 30,328 this fall, according to numbers released Wednesday by UI officials.

But those officials are not worried about the drop because the number isn’t statistically significant.

The university made a “deliberate choice” to lower the number of incoming freshmen — from 4,246 last year to 4,063 this fall — because of budget cuts in response to the struggling economy.

“We are managing the numbers,” he said.

UI officials want to ensure every student receives a quality education despite the drastic budget cuts, Moore said.

While numbers are down in both the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the undergraduate College of Nursing, the Graduate College’s numbers increased. This fall, 5,719 students were enrolled in the Graduate College, a jump from last year’s 5,558. Moore said the faltering economy was possibly the cause for the increase.

And officials from other universities agreed.

“Graduate enrollments fluctuate with the economy,” said Marc Harding, the director of admissions and enrollment services at Iowa State University, which also saw a jump in graduate students.

“Worse economy means higher [graduate] enrollment.”

At ISU, the drop in freshman numbers is similar, but its overall enrollment is up. ISU reached a record-breaking overall enrollment of 27,945 students, an increase of 4 percent over last year, Harding said. He also noted the increase can be attributed to a rising number of minority, international, and graduate students.

“Diversity is part of who we are and part of our strategic plan,” Harding said.

UI freshman Zach Lockhart had his own take on why the freshman numbers are down.

Lockhart, who chose the UI for its creative-writing program and said he “wouldn’t go anywhere else,” said he noticed the UI didn’t make much effort to recruit freshmen at his hometown high school in Adel.

“A lot of the research I had to do myself,” Lockhart said.

He said that informing potential students about specific UI programs might garner larger freshman classes.

Moore said it’s hard to tell what future enrollment numbers will be, but said he is confident they will stay strong.

“We are still a place that students can come to for a high-quality education and we will continue working to make that better,” Moore said.