by Larry Gordon

Federal financial aid changes are producing significant enrollment increases in summer classes at many California colleges and raising hopes that students will be graduating faster as a result.

Cal State Los Angeles, for example, has experienced nearly a doubling of its summer school population to about 5,900. Officials attribute most of that growth to the revival and expansion of federal Pell Grants that Congress approved last year for low- and moderate-income students. “That’s a pretty impressive increase in one year,” said Thomas Enders, campus vice provost for enrollment services.