In the past five years, total enrollment for summer courses has varied between 1300–1500 students. With several weeks left to register, some classes are already full or have few spots remaining.
The courses with the highest enrollment in past years have continuously been those in the English, business administration, sociology, health, recreation and chemistry fields.
According to RAIL, summer offerings of General Chemistry I and II, a core curriculum class, are over half full. Also, Sociology 403: Ethnic Relations, is already full, having no spots open out of its original 25. In the business administration sector, only six seats remain in the summer course on international business.
Many other courses have less than half of their original number of spots available.
Michael Konopski, interim vice president for enrollment management, stated that the final enrollment numbers for the summer sessions will not be available until July. However, the early demand for summer classes offers evidence that this year’s numbers will be similar to those in past years.
“The university does make a small financial gain from summer [courses] and at the same time it allows students to catch up, repeat or move ahead on classes,” said Konopski.
Students have differing views on summer courses.
Chris Jenkins, a senior sociology major, claimed that he did not have a tough time signing up for summer classes due to his senior status. However, Jenkins did state that class choices were slim and offered a solution to improve summer courses.
“Add more classes, lower the cost. By adding more classes that students need, [the university] could still make money. They could poll students to see who is interested in summer school and what they want to take,” said Jenkins.
Coryn Barger, a junior psychology major, has also experienced problems due to the limited offerings of summer courses. “I’ve actually just changed my minor because there weren’t enough classes offered. If I had stayed with my original minor, I wouldn’t have been able to graduate on time,” said Barger.
Like Jenkins, Barger also had ideas for improving summer courses: “Offer more classes with shorter, more frequent hours or all online. Trying to work with a summer class schedule can get difficult.”
RAIL registration for the Summer I, II, and III sessions opened on March 24 and the sessions are available for registration until the first day of their respective classes
The first day of Summer I and Summer III sessions is May 27. Summer II begins on July 7.