By Illinois Radio Network

NORMAL – Students at many of Illinois’ public universities are in class today. But schools across the state say they won’t know how many students they have for at least two weeks.

It’s important for Illinois’ public universities to know how many students they have on campus.

Students are paying more and more of the cost to run universities. At Illinois State University, tuition and fees pay just under half of the nearly $400 million annual budget.

ISU spokesman Eric Jome said he actually expects fewer students on campus this year.

“The last three years we’ve set some records for freshman enrollment,” Jome noted. “Last fall, our enrollment topped just over 21,000 students. This year we expect that’s going to moderate just a little bit.”

Jome said it’ll be after Labor Day before ISU has an official headcount.

That’s about the time Western Illinois will have their count as well.

WIU Director of Communications Darcie Shinberger said Western is giving students a few more days to arrive on campus.

“We will not have a final headcount till about Sept. 6 or Sep. 7, what we consider the traditional 10th day of classes,” Shinberger said. “We still have students that are registering and coming in. And we anticipate a few more will still trickle in this week.”

Freshman at the University of Illinois arrive on campus this week, which means the headcount at the state’s largest public university will take a bit more time.