Summer Session and Student Success

These reports describe the association between summer session enrollment and student success (measured by persistence, graduation, GPA) among first-time, full-time (FTFT) cohorts at CSU. 

Overall, summer enrollment appears to be a positive academic behavior in terms of persistence and graduation, especially for students that struggle during the first academic year. Students that enroll in one or more summer session persist and graduate at higher rates compared to students that do not enroll during the summer. Summer enrollment is not associated with a higher GPA, but summer enrollment does appear to help students move from probation to good academic standing and improve the individual’s term end GPA.

Diverse populations (Pell recipients in particular) are underrepresented among summer enrollees. This could indicate that finances make summer enrollment a more difficult academic choice for low-income populations. However, there is some correlational evidence that summer enrollment has a differentially positive association for first generation students’ likelihood of graduating. This suggests the importance of removing barriers of summer enrollment for groups that have been historically underserved at CSU.