EMail This Page - Print

Haley Murray

Summer enrollment is down 4 percent from last year, but it is not a great concern, University administrators said.

The official 10th-day figures showed summer enrollment stands at 9,589, about 400 students less than last summer. Of that number, 6,862 are enrolled on campus as undergraduate, graduate and professional students, down about 2.5 percent from last year.

In addition, 2,714 students are enrolled off campus at military bases and other sites where particular programs are taught, which is down by 7.5 percent.

University spokeswoman Sue Davis said that although the numbers are down, administrators are not necessarily concerned because they attribute the decrease to several factors that the University has no control over.

"Summer numbers are more flexible," Davis said. "They go up and down."

SIUC is down 85 seniors and 85 sophomores compared to last summer, the biggest on-campus enrollment change. The decrease is most likely because of internship opportunities, Davis said.

"That is the time to do internships, specifically for students getting ready to graduate and for students preparing to pick their major," Davis said.

Vice chancellor of student affairs and management enrollment Larry Dietz said summer enrollment is typically made up of a lot of off-campus programs, particularly on military bases. This summer, however, the off-campus enrollment accounts for a larger portion of the overall decrease.

"We expected that with the military call-up," Dietz said.

Davis said, "Numbers are expected to be less. There is a war going on in Iraq."

Davis said she expects the soldiers to reenroll and that the decreased summer enrollment is not financially significant to the University in the long run.

"Those dollars don't feed into the University income account," Dietz said.

"Pricing is different; it's like a business in that as they generate income, they reimburse themselves."

The University is also not enrolling new students at its campus in Nakajo, Japan, which will close in May 2006.

"Students already enrolled can finish their program," Davis said. "But we are not enrolling new students."

Reporter Haley Murray can be reached at haley_murray@dailyegyptian.com