Amid a underwhelming job market, more students are choosing to spend their summers in class.
Inside Higher Ed reports that summer college enrollment rates are up across the country for a number of reasons -- job market competition, interest in saving money on tuition by taking cheaper summer classes and the institution of year-round Pell Grants -- meaning that summer is no longer a break for some schools:
At UT-Dallas, [vice president for enrollment management Curt] Eley said, summer enrollment is up 5.3 percent from last year at this time, to 6,751 students. "Our strategic plan is for growth throughout the year and that includes the summer," he said. "We are really looking actively to make sure that we have a value proposition that appeals to the students in our market and to increasing our enrollment in any way we can."
When the first set of summer classes started Monday at Berkeley, more than 13,800 had already enrolled in the university's summer offerings, a thousand more than had registered by the first day of class last summer. Russo said that he had expected to see more summer students in part because of intensified efforts to attract them. "We've introduced more online classes and are building partnerships to bring international students here in far greater numbers than we can during the rest of the year," he said. "That's where some of our growth is coming from."
Community colleges have seen considerable increases in enrollment as well, due at least in part to students from four-year schools who choose to take courses at local colleges while at home for the summer.
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