A 25 percent discount on summer tuition at Indiana University led to a record-breaking summer enrollment at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC).

Vice Chancellor and Dean Marwan Wafa credits university administrators for making year-round attendance more attractive to students. Not only did the discount enable the university to make greater use of its facilities this summer, it helped students make progress toward earning their degrees in four years or less.

“The strategic decision by President Michael McRobbie to reduce IU’s summer tuition was excellent for IUPUC. Combined with our marketing efforts to promote summer attendance in Columbus and the selection of courses we offered, we are extremely pleased with the outcome of this initiative,” Wafa said.

The discount applied toward both courses taught on campus as well as online courses. Tuition savings for IUPUC students who took a full course load this summer averaged about $1,000.

“This year, we experienced the highest enrollments for summer sessions since 2005,” reported Denise Johnson, director of the registrar’s office at IUPUC. "They may be the largest summer enrollments in our 42-year history, but we are still analyzing the data."

Compared to 2011, Johnson reports the university's first summer session, which ran from May 9 through June 20, had a .3 percent increase in the number of credit hours taken and a 1.6 percent increase in total students. The big jump was for the second session, however, which began June 25 and ends August 6.

“Compared to 2011, we experienced a 14 percent increase in credit hours taken and a 15.1 percent increase in total students. The increase was substantially larger than the earlier session because many high school students and transfer students from other colleges and universities were still in session through much of May, so they were unable to register for classes at IUPUC until they finished,” she said.

Although the discount does not apply to fall classes, IUPUC administrators are confident fall enrollments will also increase this year. Students who have not yet registered for the fall can do so up until August 20.