Parkland College, Danville Area Community College and Eastern Illinois University all have fewer students than the year before, possibly reflecting hard economic times.

Other schools have had better outcomes, including the University of Illinois, which showed record numbers in its 10-day enrollment figures.

But as DACC's President Alice Jacobs notes, the figures at her school are up thousands of students from the year 2000.

"We find it more meaningful how many students we have at the end of the year," she added.

Parkland Admissions director Reo Wilhour said the Champaign community college is near record enrollment as a five-year moving average, though this fall's head count is 1 percent behind that average.

Eastern Illinois University is down from last fall, and has vacated rooms in one of its residence halls.

EIU has an on-campus enrollment of 10,036 and an off-campus count of 1,142, for a total of 11,178. A year ago, the number of students taking on- and off-campus classes was 10,511 and 1,119, respectively, for a total enrollment of 11,630.

But Provost Blair Lord said in a press release that part of the reason for that is that more students are taking their general education courses at community colleges.

Parkland's official 10-day census for fall 2011 shows that its head count stands at 9,443 — 559 students fewer than this time last year.

A different measure that takes account of how many hours are spent, full-time equivalent, is 6,141 — which is 745 fewer hours, or down about 11 percent, than the same 10 days in fall 2010.

That's fairly typical of community colleges. Of the nine community colleges that had reported their enrollments statistics to the Illinois Community College Admissions and Records Officers Organization by the beginning of this week, all had reported declines in total credit hours.

George W. Reid, executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, said many institutions have yet to file their 10-day reports.

Fall enrollment figures for DACC were not yet available, but DACC President Alice Jacobs said it appears the college's head count is down by 1.5 percent.

"One of the main differences is that, last year, we had 400 full-time students funded through the federal Workforce Investment Act. As that incentive expires, there are only 200 such students this year," she said.

Also, community colleges have been harder hit than four-year institutions in Illinois' Monetary Award Program funding problems.

"Last year, we had 500 students who would have been eligible for MAP grants and didn't get them," she said. "It's a statewide issue. With so much demand for MAP, the deadlines are moved up earlier and earlier and earlier, which hurts students who apply later and community colleges."

Parkland Vice President Linda Moore said the enrollment drops have struck many community colleges.

She said some economic problems can increase admissions because workers need to retrain, but much of the retraining for recession began in 2007, and many have completed their retraining by now.

Wilhour said figures at Parkland and other institutions may reflect normal cycles in enrollment.

Enrollment is still near record levels, he said.

"I believe our softening enrollment is directly related to the high rate of unemployment and underemployment in the region as well as the high level of uncertainty about the state's future economic prospects," he added.

"Coming into the recession two years ago there seemed to be more grants available from private foundations. Some of these grants have dried up," Wilhour said.

He said he had heard reports of students not being able to rely on their families for financial help, especially for families affected by unemployment. At the same time, he said, the Education Department has tightened the academic performance standards for students to maintain federal financial aid eligibility.