As school ends and temperatures rise, most students have left the University of Oregon campus for summer break. For some, the summertime heralds the start of yet another academic term — but the cost can be high.
Hundreds of courses are being offered during the summer both on campus and online for UO students. Financial aid during the summer term can be more limited than the school year, leaving students with fewer payment options to choose from when paying tuition.
During this summer, 684 courses are being offered on campus at UO, 335 being online or asynchronous.
According to Heather Gustafson, senior assistant registrar for registration and records, 5,686 undergraduate students are enrolled for the summer as of July 9. Gustafson said this number may increase later in the summer due to the different sessions that classes can be held in.
Summer term consists of different sessions students can take – either a four-week, eight-week or 12-week session. The sample student budget, estimated by UO’s financial aid department, is based on the eight-week period of enrollment and with 15 credit hours for undergraduates.
For resident undergraduate students, the price of tuition and fees for an eight-week session is set at $4,466. For non-resident students, the cost is more than double, at $9,586.
The sample budget also estimates that students will spend an additional $4,048 in room and board, books and other miscellaneous expenses.
In total, the cost for an undergraduate student to take a 15 credit eight-week course during summer at UO, for a resident, is estimated at $8,618. For a non-resident student, the estimated cost rises to $13,970. These numbers are based on the 2023 student tuition cohort.
According to 2023-2024 tuition and fees, the cost of one credit hour for a resident student is $289.17 during the school year, compared to $245.79 during the summer. For non-residents, the cost per credit hour is $903.24 during the school year and $587.11 in the summer.
But after a 3% tuition raise for the 2024-2025 school year, the price per credit hour for residents this summer will be raised to $253.17. For non residents, the cost stands at $604.72.
According to Gustafson, the resident undergraduate summer tuition cost for students is 85% of their academic year rate. For nonresidents, the rate is 65%.
Though the price per credit hour is cheaper in the summer, students are still left with the task of figuring out how they will pay their tuition, as some financial aid programs are left unavailable during the summer.
Financial aid programs available to students during the summer include the federal Pell Grant, federal work study, which is “limited” and student loans. Full-ride scholarship programs, like the Stamps and PathwayOregon scholarship, do not offer tuition coverage during a summer term.
Jim Brooks, director of student financial aid and scholarships at UO, said that most scholarships from the financial aid department are ones for students enrolled during the academic year. According to Brooks, some departments still may have their own scholarships that are available to students taking summer courses that are not part of the financial aid office itself.
According to Brooks, $9,719,799 in financial aid was given to 2,625 students during the 2023 summer term.
Kaylan Zhang, a multidisciplinary sciences major, is taking seven courses and two labs during the summer term. Zang will be completing the organic chemistry sequence this summer at UO and will be finishing her core education and elective requirements at a community college.
Zhang will have three terms of chemistry courses this summer, each lasting four weeks.
She said UO should provide more financial support to its students during the summer, and to make scholarships “more accessible” in return.
“Tuition is always going to be a barrier,” Zhang said. “But at least through community college, the courses are significantly less expensive than university.”
According to Zhang, she is taking out student loans to pay for courses at UO for her summer tuition and pays out of pocket for her community college courses.
According to the university’s summer aid website, the total amount in federal direct loans that a sophomore who is a dependent, or a student who is assumed to have financial support from their family, can receive for the summer term is $2,167.
For a junior or senior, that amount is $2,501.
Based on the sample budget, the maximum amount of federal loans a dependent undergraduate student is eligible for in the summer is only half of the total amount needed for their tuition if a student is taking the estimated 15 credits.
The only other loan option that isn’t a private loan is a Parent PLUS loan, which requires parents of dependent undergraduates to borrow a loan for their student.
Stella Fetherston/Emerald
According to the University of Oregon’s “Oregon Guarantee,” tuition and fees at UO are “locked in” for student cohorts based on what term a student first enrolled in — meaning that a student’s tuition will not change for at least five years after their enrollment. This tuition guarantee includes the summer term.
Cayla Van Sickle, a communications, disorders and sciences major, said that summer is a time for students to work and “get a break from education.”
“If you’re able to go to school during the summer and not work, that’s a privilege,” Van Sickle said.
Van Sickle said that if she had to take summer classes in order to graduate within her four-year timeframe, she would consider it, but might not take them otherwise.
“I would rather my college education be longer than worrying about struggling to pay for bills or food,” Van Sickle said. “I’d rather work in the summer.”
Brooks said that during the summer, there is a lot more “individual review” when it comes to building a financial aid offer based on a student’s period of enrollment and how many credits they are taking.
Brooks described the summer term as an “ongoing process” as the financial aid department puts together aid offers and disburses payments to students based on when their summer session begins.
According to Brooks, most students taking summer courses are using the federal Pell Grant, if they are eligible for it, or student loans.
He also said that there are some situations where a student who is receiving a scholarship during the academic year may ask for an exception to get the scholarship awarded in the summer too, but he said “Those are few and far between.”
“There’s not a lot of scholarship offers that are made for the summertime,” Brooks said. “Most of our [financial aid department] scholarships are for the academic year. That’s when most students enroll.”