The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has the largest number of students enrolled this year in its history, with close to 43,400 students. This year's freshman class is the second-largest the university has seen thus far. The university has about 32,300 undergraduate students enrolled this fall, and 11,100 professional and graduate students.

Meanwhile, the University of Illinois Springfield has an enrollment of more than 5,000 students for the fourth year in a row. At an increase of 1.8 percent this year, UIS has 5,137 students enrolled this fall.

“Growth is a high priority for the UIS campus, and we are very encouraged that more and more students are choosing the Springfield campus of the University of Illinois because of the high-quality educational experience they receive,” UIS Chancellor Susan Koch told the State Journal-Register.

Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, however, has seen a decline in student enrollment for the ninth year in a row. Fall enrollment dropped five percent this year to 17,964, though university officials say the number of freshman on campus this fall is the highest in 20 years.