Financial
aid helps increase summer enrollment
By
Karla Casillas
Summer Forty-Niner
City Editor
Summer enrollment has risen significantly thanks to the increase of financial
aid money available to students.
According to Vice Provost David Dowell, enrollment is at nearly 10,000 students,
which is approximately one-third of the number of students who enroll during
the fall semester.
“One of the things we did this summer that helped [increase enrollment]
was increased financial aid money for students,” Dowell said.
However, this is not the final number of enrolled students, according to Senior
Vice President of Enrollment Services Thomas Enders.
“[Enrollment] will increase because registration is still taking place
for session three,” he said.
According to Dowell, the most popular college this summer is the College of
Health and Human Resources, followed closely by the colleges of Liberal Arts
and Business Administration.
Last summer, budget cuts decreased summer enrollment.
“Summer 2005 was affected by budget cuts. We are now just getting back
to pre-budget cut numbers,” Enders said.
Dowell said that they are unsure if they will be able to duplicate the extra
funds for the following summer, which may result in another dip in enrollment
numbers.
Dowell said that, for now, the increase in enrollment is good news because
even though fall semester has three times as many students, the average student
has only half the workload of a full semester; a full semester is 12 units.
“This summer, the average unit load per student is 5.5 units,” he
said. That is roughly two courses for each student enrolled this summer.
“Our main goal is offering the right classes for students to help them
graduate on time,” Enders said.
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