Summer enrollment still down

Fewer IU students are staying in Bloomington this summer to take classes, according to this year's enrollment figures.\nEnrollment in both summer sessions has declined for the third year in a row. Summer Session I enrollment is down 2.8 percent from last year, and while the official numbers for Session II will not be released until the end of July, Director of Summer Sessions and Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Leslie Coyne said they are "down a bit," as well.\n"What's interesting to look at (is) over the last 20 years summer enrollment and credit hours have remained amazingly stable ... until the last four years, in terms of enrollment," Coyne said.\nCoyne attributed the enrollment decline to two factors.\nFirst, he said more students -- especially arts and science majors -- "feel strongly" that internships are really important in terms of their resumes.\n"They by and large will take those in the summer, usually not connected to credit," he said. \nSecond, Coyne said Ivy Tech Community College may be creating "significant competition" for students who enroll in IU courses only in the summer and transfer back to Ivy Tech in the fall.\n"We have been a good choice for students who wish to pick up a course or two," Coyne said. "Ivy Tech is now in that business."\nAccording to a press release on Ivy Tech Bloomington's Web site, 1,943 students enrolled for summer classes there, which is more than a 25 percent increase from last summer. The college attributes the increase to its distance education offerings and its new programs, including radiation therapy and elementary education.\nTodd Schmitz, executive director of University Reporting & Research at IU, said in an e-mail that the implementation of the PeopleSoft system has had an impact on summer enrollment.\nHe said University personnel must place "specific sets of courses into Summer I or Summer II based upon registrar assignment." \n"This has been an issue of considerable concern given that we need and want to maintain historical consistency ... we still have some work to do to create a consistent process and outcome for the attribution of courses to the summer sessions," Schmitz said.\nThough head count has decreased, the number of credit hours students are taking is up 1.4 percent from last Summer Session I.\n"Students are taking more of a load," Coyne said.\nCoyne said the University is researching ways to enhance summer enrollment and is revising its marketing strategies for the summer.\n"We market summer extensively as is and we will continue to be aggressive as we have been and look for new ways to communicate with existing students," he said.\nMoreover, Coyne said finding ways to offer internships in conjunction with courses is a priority.\nThe financial loss of summer enrollment decrease is not yet devastating due to effective budgeting, Coyne said. \n"If you see a continued downward trend then you budget accordingly," he said.