Session II summer enrollment numbers down; trend expected to continue into fall semester

Since 2009, the number of students enrolled in summer courses at Central Michigan University has slowly decreased, and this summer has been no exception.

According to an email sent by Steve Smith, CMU Director of Public Relations, 2,636 students are enrolled for Session II summer courses this year. This number has decreased by 517 students since summer 2009. In 2010, 2,927 students enrolled in summer courses, and, in 2011, that number decreased to 2,833.

The number of credit hours students are taking has also decreased. There are 13,936 credit hours being taken this summer, in comparison to the 14,532 taken last summer.

In comparison to the first summer session, numbers are down. In total, 1,196 less students enrolled for Session II courses than Session I.

In an email from Smith, 3,832 students were enrolled in Session I summer classes. That number was 348 less than the 4,180 enrolled in summer of 2011, and represented an 8-percent decrease in enrollment.

Additionally, the number of student credit hours is also down. That number has decreased from the 22,141 taken first session.

The decrease in student enrollment is expected to carry on to the academic year.

During the July Board of Trustees meeting, Steven Johnson, vice president of enrollment and student services, said the university is expecting about 3,500 incoming freshmen in the fall, which is a decrease of 200 students from the previous year.

Johnson said the reason enrollment is down is due to the shrinking high school market, as well as academic competition from schools such as Saginaw Valley State University, Oakland University and Wayne State University.

“All of us have been discussing this openly,” Johnson told the board in early July. “We all have very similar challenges as we’re looking at a very different economic market … and it’s causing all of us to step back and reassess how we approach strategy for attracting students to our institution.”