On Monday, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong sent a campuswide email announcing the first phase of the Year-Round Operation, with the goal of increasing enrollment and fulfilling a multiyear compact with the governor to increase the CSU budget.
The operation will begin for students applying for the 2024-2025 year that choose to volunteer to start at Cal Poly the summer of their first year and spend a second summer on-campus later, while also agreeing to live off-campus for two years. It will be available for select majors in the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Engineering and the Orfalea College of Business, according to the release.
Up to 600 students are expected to be a part of the cohort, with one-third being scheduled to live off-campus during every term of the 2024-2025 academic year.
This initiative aims to increase overall enrollment, availability of beds, labs, classrooms and student opportunities with the spike of attendance in the summer term and lowering of on-campus attendance for the fall, winter and spring terms.
“Year-Round Operation will allow us to extend our Learn by Doing pedagogy by giving students a greater opportunity to take part in High-Impact Practices, including enriching activities such as study abroad, internships and co-ops, service-learning projects and others,” Armstrong wrote in the email.
While the initiative will increase enrollment, Cal Poly will not see 25,000 students on the campus during any term until 2035, according to the Tribune. For this year, about 22,000 students enrolled for on-campus classes for the fall quarter, the Tribune reported.
Due to an anonymous $300,000 annual donation, students with financial need will be able to participate in study abroad experiences and internships. The operation also plans to repurpose space geared towards student success and relocate staff to a new commercial building near the San Luis Obispo Airport.
To prepare for the first round of new students in the 2024 summer term, the university will hire more faculty this year.
Armstrong closed his email with a promise that more details on the initiative are forthcoming, and said he looks forward to working with the campus community to make it happen.