Stephen F. Austin State University has recorded a summer enrollment of more than 5,000 students.
This figure represents a slight decrease from summer 2012 enrollment, due in large part to a restructuring of summer course offerings to make the schedule more efficient and cost effective, according to Dr. Richard Berry, provost and vice president for academic affairs. The absence of the largest graduating class in SFA history – 1,285 diplomas were awarded in May – also is being felt on campus this summer, along with a smaller freshman class that resulted from increased admission standards that went into effect last fall.
“All of these factors have contributed to some degree to the slight reduction in summer enrollment this year,” Berry said. “We are now well positioned to continue responding to the academic needs of our students and moving them toward successful completion of their degrees.”
Included in the summer enrollment total are 763 students who attended the 12-day Maymester, along with 4,016 students attending Summer I classes and 3,758 students registered for Summer II.
According to Karyn Hall, director of the SFA Office of Institutional Research, some changes in the way summer enrollment is reported internally also likely affected the latest census data.
“The reporting structure has been in transition, and we believe the new system that has been implemented will be more beneficial from a student service perspective,” she said. “Exact prior semester comparisons are not available this summer because of those changes in the summer term structure. We have provided estimates to allow for loose comparison to last summer’s enrollment, but we will not really be able to compare apples to apples until next summer.”
