Summer enrollment has decreased at the university again this year.

Eight-week summer session enrollment has dropped from 7,923 last year to 7,313, a decline of 610 students. Chancellor Rita Cheng said in a press release Tuesday that the university has experienced a sharp drop in summer enrollment over the past two years.

Last fall, Cheng assembled a Summer Enrollment Task Force to examine and pinpoint factors affecting summer enrollment and recommend actions to re-invent summer school.

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According to the report, the nine-member task force cited that the main enrollment-affecting factors include the economic recession, minimal Pell Grant availability, lack of student loan funds and smaller junior and senior classes.

The task force recommended identifying popular core curriculum and prerequisite classes, creating a larger portfolio of classes for juniors and seniors, expanding online and remote courses for traditional students and moving toward an open campus model by offering youth, adult and professional courses to the community, according to the report.

Having academic advisors include summer courses in student degree plans and finalizing the summer class schedule in October were two other recommended actions.

One recommendation already completed this summer was a change to the financial aid rules. The university reduced the credit hour requirement for on-campus employment from six credits to three credits. There are currently 1,838 students working in campus jobs this summer, according to the release.

Cheng said in the release that the university wants to make students aware of the benefits of summer school.

“Our colleges and departments will more closely align programs and curriculum with student progress toward degree completion, as well as with community needs,” Cheng said in the release.

Major changes to the summer semester are set to begin in 2014.

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