The University of Southern Maine has announced that its enrollment in classes for the new academic year that began this week is 8,560, down 6.3 percent from a year ago.

Enrollment includes 6,705 undergraduate students, 1,579 graduate students and 276 in the University of Maine School of Law.

The university, which faces continuing financial woes, once had an enrollment of more than 11,000 students on its three campus, but the number has dwindled in recent years.

“We have plans to address that,” Joseph McDonnell, university provost, said on Sunday about the shrinking enrollment.

McDonnell greeted parents and students as they arrived at the university’s Gorham campus on Aug. 31. He said plans to bolster enrollment would include improving the process for students transferring to the university, attracting more quality graduate students, and encouraging freshmen to participate in activities outside of classrooms, like sports or student government.

More than 500 freshmen and transfer students moved into dormitories on Sunday, creating bumper-to-bumper traffic jams. More than 85 upperclassmen assisted new students.

“It’s a good experience to meet new people,” said Derick Belanger, a senior from Buckfield.

This year, 1,080 students, about the same as in 2013, will live in dormitories on the Gorham campus. But the eight-story Dickey-Wood dormitory complex remains closed and a future use of the two towers has yet to be determined.

Classes began on Tuesday on the Gorham campus.

Sunday was move-in day for students living in residence halls on the University of Southern Maine’s Gorham campus.