Southeastern reports positive growth across the board for summer semester
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
by: Tonya Lowentritt
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s summer semester has experienced
its highest enrollment growth since 2014, university officials announced today.
Overall student numbers are up 10.4 percent, with undergraduate student growth
at 12.3 percent and graduate student numbers increasing by 1.3 percent. The number
of continuing Southeastern undergraduate students enrolled in the summer semester
also increased by 15.3 percent.
Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management Kay Maurin said the increase
in enrollment is due in part to Southeastern students who decided to continue their
education by enrolling over the summer, with an additional 422 current students enrolled
for summer course work compared to last year. She explained that the strategy for
the summer was to be accessible and affordable and described the online offerings
and the summer smart scholarships as enticing, with the needed courses in an accessible
format and the cost to attend reasonable.
“We waived admission application fees and continued to offer the Summer Smart
scholarship to undergraduates, while also expanding it to include graduate students,”
she said. “We thought it important to provide financial incentives, especially during
these challenging times. We care about our students, and we want them to be able to
complete their degrees as efficiently as possible and with little to no debt.”
Maurin said the university is pleased with the growth experienced this summer.
“Because we were responsive to the environment created by COVID-19, we were able
to quickly adapt and offer summer coursework in an accessible online format,” she
explained. “Even though this global pandemic has changed the way we do business, it
shouldn’t have a negative impact on an individual’s desire to pursue a college degree.
That was foremost in our minds as we planned the summer semester.”
Southeastern’s Summer Smart program now provides one of the best values among
four-year colleges in south Louisiana. Summer semester terms range from four to eight
weeks.
