Students take advantage of discounted summer tuition

The summer is over, and more than 29,000 students across all IU campuses took advantage of the University’s reduced summer tuition, according to StateImpact.

In October 2011, IU President Michael McRobbie announced the University’s plans to decrease the cost of summer tuition by 25 percent.

The price cut came in an effort to shorten the time it takes to obtain a college degree, thus cutting down on tuition costs and student loan debt. When McRobbie announced the initiative in last year, it was estimated a student taking a full course load at IU Bloomington during the summer after the 25 percent discount was enacted could save up to $1,050.

Every campus except for IU-South Bend experienced an increase in summer enrollment, with IU-Purdue University Indianapolis seeing the greatest increase. Summer enrollment was up about 1 percent at IU-Bloomington.

Despite these increases, StateImpact reported the numbers still fell short of what the University had hoped for when it first enacted the price cut: a 10 percent increase in enrollment.

According to the report, Mark Land, associate vice president for university communications, said the University still considers the price cut a success for students who completed classes in the summer.

“This is one way we can offer immediate savings to students,” he said. “We have a group of students who are going to be in summer school anyway.”

­—Kirsten Clark