Southern Illinois university-Carbondale is reporting decreased enrollment from last fall. The university began the Fall 2017 semester with 17,292 students, an almost 9 percent decrease from last year. The school’s freshman class alone is down more than 19 percent. However, the university says the size of junior and senior classes has increased by 7 and 8 percent since new retention plans were put in place in 2014. The loss of students is resulting in a $5.2 million loss in revenue that will be partnered with state level funding cuts.