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news
Year-round operations
successful
By Michael Watanabe
Daily Forty-Niner
One year after
implementing state-sponsored summer sessions, Cal State Long
Beach has increased the session's enrollment by an average
of 26 percent.
Under this plan,
CSULB students pay less for summer school, enabling them to
graduate quicker.
"The state is paying
for the summer session that was previously self supporting
(supported by student fees),” said Keith Polakoff, associate
vice president of Academic Affairs. "In practice that means
lower fees for students.”
It also means more
classes, especially those that were previously unaffordable.
The university
has found a 40 percent increase from last summer in matriculated
students, those already attending CSULB.
The state usually
expects a 40 percent increase within the first year. Last
year, Polakoff had estimated an increase of 40 percent in
the first year.
But for students
who are not enrolled at CSULB, fees actually increased. Naturally,
Polakoff said, enrollment among these students was down. The
overall increase was 26 percent.
Cal State Hayward,
Cal State Los Angeles, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly
Pomona have used state-supported summer sessions for approximately
30 years with better than average results.
Summer session,
run by the University of College and Extension Services, used
to cost $130 per unit for CSULB students, compared with $105
a unit now.
Those not already
taking classes at CSULB pay $145 a unit.
Students who do
not live in California, but attend CSULB will pay the lower
fees plus $246 per unit for out-of-state charges.
Along with state-supported
summer sessions comes an extra incentive: financial aid.
"Financial aid
had never been available in the summer session before,”
Polakoff said. "With limits, [state] financial aid did become
available in the summer 2001.”
Students cannot
receive federal financial aid since the federal government
does not consider the summer session as part of the academic
year. But, students can use any financial aid money they had
not spent.
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