For the same price as taking classes in Fall and Spring Semesters, students can now take advantage of summer classes to keep them on track for graduation.
Since Fall Semester 2012, both summer and academic-year undergraduate tuition have cost the same amount.
The first of two summer semesters will start during the second week of May. Part-time schedules cost $270 per credit hour for in-state tuition, which is up from last summer’s $257 per-credit pricetag. There is also an additional technology fee of $58.
Nancy Prater, the director of marketing and communications for online and distance education, said it is cheaper to take courses online over the summer, because there are none of the recreation and student fees that come with on-campus courses. She said online courses and summer classes in general also can free up time for students.
“There are lots of core curriculum courses, including tiers one and two, so if you want to get some of those complete [students take summer courses,]” Prater said. “Sometimes people want a little extra time to focus on a class that might be a little more difficult for them.”
Despite the price increase, Michael Webb, a sophomore telecommunications major, said he will venture into German 101 and 102.
“I chose to do German because I have an opportunity to do multiple years worth of German in one summer semester and I also need two years of foreign language for my degree,” he said.
Both courses are four credit hours each and will be squeezed into two and a half weeks of study. The class will meet every day of the week, twice per day – once for three and a half hours and then once for fifty minutes.
Webb said the time commitment for these classes is not something he views as negative.
“I haven’t heard that it’s difficult, just extremely time consuming,” Webb said. “It’s kind of better to do it that way because you’re completely immersed in it, so you learn it better. People that go overseas are completely immersed in the entire community and they have to hear German or whatever country it is, they have to know that language. So being immersed in German all day every day would really help out learning it.”
Prater said flexibility is a perk of online classes.
“For online, you can be doing other things,” Prater said. “So maybe you have a job, an internship, or a vacation you’re taking care of, you can do this more on your own time.”
Webb said summer courses have given him some room to graduate in four years after changing his major during his freshman year.
“This year is to kind of give myself a pocket on foreign languages because otherwise, I’d literally have to pass every single class all the time in order to graduate on time,” Webb said. “So this is kind of a safety net.”
Despite the work, Webb said he feels confident that he’ll be able to regain ground.
“I feel like I’m on the right course, but I feel since I started a semester late, I still have a lot of catching up to do,” Webb said. “In my senior year, I’m probably going to be swamped.”
