WEDNESDAY
DAILY EGYPTIAN JULY 24, 2013
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
SINCE 1916
VOLUME 98, ISSUE 152
Music makes students ‘Come Together’
CHRIS ZOELLER | DAILY EGYPTIAN
Aileen Portugal, a post-baccalaureate student in medical education preparation from San Diego, plays Beatles’ songs Tuesday on the piano located near the International Lounge in the Student Center. Portugal said she has been playing the piano for about 10 years. She said one of the things she wishes she could have brought with her from home was her piano. “Someone had just told me that this piano was here, so I thought I would check it out,” she said. “I love that people can come here to play and that it’s open to everyone.”
Summer enrollment continues downward trend MATT DARAY Daily Egyptian Summer enrollment has dropped for the fourth time in five years. The university posted their summer enrollment numbers, showing a 610-student decline from 7,923 students last year to 7,313 this year. The numbers have
continued to drop from as far back as 2009, when enrollment for the summer was 8,836. There was only a small increase of 100 students in 2011 when the enrollment was 8,704. Chancellor Rita Cheng said the reason for the drop is because some students can’t afford to attend summer school anymore.
“If you talk to students, you will get the same information that we have gotten and that is it’s very expensive for students to go to summer school,” Cheng said. “There is no financial aid available to help support that.” Cheng said students choosing to work or take up internships in the summer have also affected
summer enrollment. While on-campus enrollment has dropped, there has been a large increase in online enrollment, Cheng said. “The one exception is our online courses, which have doubled since last year. There is definitely a trend for students to take online classes for the summer,” she said.
Cheng said the university will take a balanced approach to provide equal amounts of online and on campus classes. She said though the number of online classes is increasing, they will not become the primary classes offered for summer. Please see ENROLLMENT | 3
Board of Trustees scales back 2014 tuition increase STEPHANIE DANNER Daily Egyptian A 3-percent tuition increase was approved for Carbondale’s campus by SIU’s Board of Trustees for fiscal year 2014. The board’s Finance Committee originally recommended a 7-percent tuition increase for Edwardsville and 5-percent increase for Carbondale in 2014. After University President Glenn Poshard
recommended the increases be lowered, the committee endorsed the approval of a 5-percent increase for both campuses. The committee also endorsed a series of student fee increases as well as an increase for medical, graduate and law school students. Before the board voted, Poshard and student trustee David Hamilton recommended a 5-percent increase for both campuses since students have
already registered for fall 2013 and the increase would probably not change their minds. However, the board voted for only a 3-percent increase for new students at Carbondale in 2014, while the full 5 percent was approved for new students at Edwardsville campus in 2014. Vice chair Donna Manery said the increases for the two campuses are different because the board examines each campus separately
and looks at the needs they exhibit. Because the campuses are separate entities and have different projected needs, the approval of finances for each campus is unrelated to one another, she said. Tuition increases can occur for multiple reasons and are usually tied to factors such as student retention and graduation rates, lower enrollment or state funds. Across both campuses, the retention rate of full-time students
in 2011 was 66 percent for firstyear students and the graduation rate for four-year students was only 24 percent. The low retention and graduation rates created shortcomings in longterm financial stability and caused the university to have to increase tuition in order to maintain university standards, according to the Board of Trustees website. Please see TUITION | 3