CHARLESTON — For the past three years, Eastern Illinois University has been sending offer letters to juniors in neighboring counties – before the students start their applications.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law Monday that will roll out a similar program statewide.
“Is college right for me? Am I going to get accepted? We really wanted to take that guessing game out for students,” explained Brittany Tierney, Eastern’s director of admissions.
Tierney grew up in a small town with parents who didn’t go to college, but wanted her to go. She said direct admission would have informed her about what opportunities were available.
“I did not apply to very many schools, because at that point in time, I truly did not know that Illinois had 12 public universities,” Tierney said.
Direct admission has been successful at Eastern, according to Tierney.
“It’s still early this year, but we’re projecting our third year of enrollment growth within the areas that we are completing direct admission.”
Like half of the state’s universities, Eastern experienced overall decline in freshmen enrollment last year. Tierney said direct admission is one way to stabilize that.
The University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and in Chicago are not participating in the initiative. That is because they admit students by academic program, according to University of Illinois System State Relations Assistant Vice President Jennifer Creasey.
Illinois Board of Higher Education spokesperson José García said students will begin receiving offer letters through the program in the fall of 2026. The direct admission process will be free for those students.