A constant buzz engulfs Anchorage during its fleeting summer months. The U. Alaska-Anchorage campus, however, seems somewhat quiet. The vacant classrooms and dark hallways make the university appear deserted to the untrained eye, but students enrolled in summer sessions come and leave their courses faster than the summer itself.
A total of 7,899 students have been filling the seats of classrooms statewide during the first summer session according to UAA’s Office of Institutional Research (IR). That total was taken on Friday, June 11, and is 3.3 percent above last year’s total. The total does not include students enrolled in classes for the second session, so the total amount that will have participated in summer courses will be higher by the end of both summer sessions.
The nearly 8,000 students taking summer courses occupy 14,431 seats. What that information doesn’t show is that, on average, a single student takes 1.8 classes per session. Thus, if a student is taking two courses, they actually count twice when IR conducts a seat count.
There are 1,048 course sections being offered this summer. It is uncertain how many courses are being taught. The total number of course sections being offered this year is up 5.8 percent from summer 2009.
UAA Provost Dr. Michael Driscoll conveyed growth is permeating nearly every aspect of the UA system.
“Obviously, we have more students enrolled year round compared to a couple years ago, so we’re seeing more courses and sections being offered as a result,” Driscoll said.
The amount of material covered and the objectives of courses do not change whether it is taught over 15, 10 or five weeks. Students, however, are expected to spend more time in class and working on homework per day than they are for a regular 15-week course during the academic year.
“The workload is not larger for regular semester courses. They are simply spread out over a longer period,” Driscoll said. “Student’s are going to be working harder on a day-to-day basis in a compressed summer course.”
Students at UAA are taking summer courses to graduate in a timely manner, and they want to obtain their degrees as quickly as possible due to the rapidly increasing costs of higher education.
Biology major Janell Graham stated that the summer course she is taking seems to be more difficult than those of a regular semester.
“The medical terminology course I’m taking is harder because it’s more rapid memorization, but it’s good because the class is teaching me how to learn at a faster pace,” Graham said. “I might not be able to retain the information for quite as long, however.”
Economics major Xianli Wang agrees with Graham that summer courses are more demanding.
“The mathematics class I’m taking seems as though it’s rushing, but I think it’s worth doing just to get additional classes done,” Wang said.
The UA system offers professional development and recreational courses over the summer. These classes are often non-credit. For example, the Kenai campus has a Kenai River Fishing Academy a couple times every summer. The course primarily draws people from outside Alaska, not UA students. A few colleges within UA, such as the College of Education and the School of Nursing, offer courses more regularly during summer.
“There are classes that are more frequently or almost exclusively offered during the summer,” Driscoll said. “There is differential demand among departments and different availability of faculty.”
Courses that are offered during the summer are chosen on the likelihood that enough students will enroll in them. Some classes are cancelled because low student enrollment does not make them financially feasible, or there may be no faculty members available to teach certain courses. The dean of each department decides how many students should be in any given summer course stated Driscoll.
“If you have a college that is offering one course that has 50 students in the summer that would be more than enough to cover the costs, but then you might have another course that only has three students in it,” Driscoll said. “(The department) might see that as a reasonable balance.”
In 2009 a total of 72 sections were cancelled; about 6.4 percent of all the sections offered last summer.
There is no difference in the cost of tuition simply because the courses are being taught during summer. The 2010 summer sessions are considered part of the 2010/2011 academic year, so it’s conceivable that students currently taking part in them are paying the same amount of money they will in the fall.
Demand for summer courses certainly seems to be increasing, according to Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management Rick Weems.
“I think demand is increasing a lot because students are trying to graduate sooner. The past two years have been pretty steady for (summer) enrollment,” Weems said. “I can look back five years and see that we have grown 1,500 students. That’s pretty solid growth, especially for summer courses when it’s so nice outside.”