#96-08-12
For Release: 8/29/96
Contact: Peter Bailley

Knox College Welcomes Entering Large Class,

Anticipates Total Enrollment at 1,100

Officials at Knox College in Galesburg are expecting another enrollment increase when classes begin in September. The highly rated liberal arts college plans to enroll 355 new students this year, compared to 346 last year and 326 the year before. Knox expects a total enrollment of approximately 1,100-an increase of about 40 students over 1995.

"The entering students are a diverse, academically talented class," says Knox Admission Director Paul Steenis. "They hail from 35 states and 24 nations, and 38 percent are in the top ten percent of their high school class," Steenis says. "162 students, or about 45 percent of the entering class, are from Illinois. The next largest groups, between ten and 20 students each, are coming from California, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin."

Residence halls open for new students on Saturday, Sept. 7. Registration is on Wednesday, Sept. 11, with the 1996 Opening Convocation and first day of classes on Thursday, Sept. 12.

Knox has expanded the capacity of its residence halls over the summer, renovating an apartment building for 36 students. Two other large homes near campus were renovated as new "theme houses" for groups of students with similar interests. Last year, Knox rented one floor of a hotel in Galesburg to accommodate the increase in students.

Steenis credits the enrollment increase on Knox's emphasis on teaching and close faculty-student contact "These are factors students look for in judging the value that you receive while you're in college," Steenis says. "Knox also has invested heavily in other areas that are important to students, including information technology systems and campus residences."

In the most recent U.S. News & World Report survey, Knox was ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in Illinois and one of the top ten Best Buys among national liberal arts colleges in the country. Knox was founded in 1837, and its "Old Main" building is a National Historic Landmark, is the sole remaining site of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

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