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July 16, 2002 BYU-Idaho announces record summer enrollment--again
REXBURG, Idaho–In its second summer term, Brigham Young
University-Idaho has exceeded its enrollment record set first summer term
this year by over 26 percent. Enrollment jumped from 3093 attending in May and June to
3924 attending during July and August. 1521 are male and 2403 are female;
1769 are freshman, 858 are sophomores, 716 are juniors and 581 are seniors.
761 are married. “We projected about 600 above last year’s numbers for
first and third summer terms,” Jeff Sorensen, assistant director of
admissions and scholarships, said. “That put us at 3,100 [for first term] and
3,700 [for second term.] ... We were lucky we came in where we did with so
many factors changing. We had to project and make decisions based on offers
we made to new students back in February and March. You cross your fingers,
look at the rates from previous years and hope you come in where you plan.” The jump is due in part to the new two eight-week term
format, which was changed from having three five-week terms in former
summers. “This is a benchmark year with the change to two summer
terms,” Sorensen said. The main difference [between the terms] is that incoming
high school students can’t start first summer term, so they start second.
First term, on the other hand, has a high percentage of students continuing
from winter,” Sorensen said. One of the greatest challenges of the term has been
estimating what classes students would need, Kevin Miyasaki, registrar, said.
Planning for summer took place last fall, and as actual numbers came from the
admissions office, adjustments were made. “I am very pleased. Faculty and departments have responded
and added classes beyond what they had planned for. ... It’s been a very
cooperative effort with everyone working to meet the students’ desires,”
Miyasaki said. Although second term tends to have a higher enrollment,
the average of this year’s two eight-week blocks is much higher than last
year’s average of the three five-week terms. The average from summer 2001 was
2,609, but this summer, it is 3,509. The higher numbers can also be attributed to the
implementation of the track system, which invites students to attend two of
the three available semesters–summer, fall, and winter, and thus enables more
students to attend the university. By the 2005-06 school year, Sorensen said,
the goal is for the campus to be able to accommodate 11,600 students fall and winter semesters with a
yearly throughput of 14,600. 6,000 of these students will be on either the
summer/fall or winter/summer tracks. “By that time, we will have 3,000 students here studying
at our university who, if we didn’t have the three-track [system], wouldn’t
have the opportunity,” Sorensen said. While in the future fall/winter students may be excluded
from the summer track as the track fills, for now, they are still able to
attend in the summers because of available room. This term, 601 students are
on the winter/summer track, and 872
are on the summer/fall track. “We feel the more students we have here in the summer, the
better the experience for everyone. It enables us to offer a greater variety
of classes and a greater number of activities and social opportunities,”
Sorensen said. 964 students are new, 2943 are continuing, and 17 are returning. Statistics show that the average credit load for second summer term is 6.2. The term ends August 22, and summer graduation, previously held in June, will be August 23. # # # |
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