EIU Media Relations

EIU announces free application for all prospective Fall 2021 students  

Move intended to help alleviate economic, COVID challenges for students, families

(Charleston, IL) – Eastern Illinois University has announced it will offer its undergraduate application free to prospective students interested in enrolling in the Fall 2021 semester. EIU will offer the free application for the remainder of the Fall 2021 enrollment cycle – a decision driven by ongoing financial and other challenges posed by COVID-19 for high school seniors and prospective transfer students.

“EIU is responsive to our students’ needs, and this emerged as one of the simplest ways to broaden opportunities for prospective students looking for an affordable, quality education,” said Josh Norman, EIU’s Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management. “We want to make things easier for high school and transfer students, who really have had an unprecedented year.”

The move to a free application will save prospective students from having to pay what is normally a $30 processing fee, and is one of a handful of other student-support initiatives recently announced by the university intended to help students and families. Other initiatives announced earlier this year provided EIU students with single-occupant housing options at no additional cost to assist the university in mitigating COVID-19 across campus; a new test-optional admissions policy; and an adjustment to a test-optional merit scholarship system. Additional modifications have been implemented as well.

That same commitment to putting students first was also a driving force behind three consecutive years of growth in EIU’s fall-to-fall freshman enrollment – especially impressive this year in light of national trends showing a general decline in college enrollment.

For more information about EIU, or to learn more about its growing assortment of programs and services, visit the university’s website at www.eiu.edu, or call EIU’s public information office at (217) 581-7400.