Summer session enrollment surging

By Lisa Klassen
Daily Bruin Reporter

Enrollment in summer sessions has already surpassed last
years’ figures due to reduced fees from state subsidies.

All UC campuses were able to reduce summer session fees after
the state allocated $14 million to the UC system, said UC Spokesman
Brad Hayward.

This year summer session classes at UCLA will cost $75 per unit
for undergraduate students and $100 per unit for graduate students,
down from a $300 registration fee plus $100-$160 per unit.

“This fee reduction is part of a two-step process,”
Hayward said. “The first part provides $14 million for all
campuses. The second part will include Berkeley, Los Angeles, and
Santa Barbara.”

These three schools will receive additional funding because they
are most affected by space constraints, Hayward said.

Reducing summer fees to a level comparable with regular fees is
also a way to deal with the expected increase in enrollment, said
David Unruh, the director of summer sessions at UCLA.

“We’re doing the summer programs in order to provide
more class work for current students and to prepare for Tidal Wave
II,” Unruh said.

Tidal Wave II refers to the 60,000 additional students who will
likely enroll in the UC by 2010.

Enrollment for UCLA’s summer sessions began in January for
current UCLA students and opened up to others in early March.

Enrollment ends on June 22 for the first six-week session and on
August 6 for the second six-week session.

“Right now we have a lot of full classes ““ both lab
and composition stuff,” Unruh said. “Last year there
were 7,000 UCLA students enrolled in the program and 3,000 visiting
students.”

According to Unruh, more than 10,000 students have already
enrolled in summer programs.

“We’re working right now to open new sections and to
make what we have larger,” he said. “This year, we had
no idea of what to expect.”

Unruh said he hopes the fee reductions will encourage more
students to graduate earlier and free up space for incoming
students.

Reducing fees motivated many students like Brad Wing, a
fourth-year psychology student, to take summer classes.

“I enrolled in summer classes because they were
cheaper,” Wing said. “Another reason that I decided to
take summer sessions was so that I could graduate earlier. I just
really think that the school should have done this
earlier.”

According to UC officials, lowering fees for the summer program
is intended to facilitate graduation and provide students with more
scheduling options.

“We are trying to offer more opportunities to
students,” Hayward said. “With more classes available
in the summer, students will be able to go through faster or have a
different quarter off.”

According to Unruh, UCLA will launch several pilot programs
designed to help students graduate faster and to save money.

“In one of the pilot programs, we will offer $500 fee
waivers to incoming transfer students if they register in summer
classes before they officially begin classes in the fall,”
Unruh said. “But the classes need to be specific and need to
go toward their major.”

This year, these waivers will be available for students in the
English, history, political science, psychology and sociology
departments, he said. Unruh suggests that interested students talk
to their counselors to determine if they qualify for this
program.

Another pilot program gives a $500 fee waiver for students
slated to graduate in the fall who agree to finish their course
work during the summer, Unruh said.

The UC plans to keep the fee reduction in place for next year.
“The program will probably expand next year,” Hayward
said. “We’re preparing for dramatic enrollment
increases and we believe that reducing fees is an important
incentive for students to take more classes and for universities to
offer more classes.”

Although summer courses are designed mainly for college
students, advanced high school students are also allowed to
apply.

Unruh, however, said enrolling in summer sessions will not give
high school students special status if they choose to apply to UC
campuses the following year.

He also said lowering fees was not intended to recruit new
students from various high school and community college
campuses.

“Generating interest in the summer programs is our main
goal,” Unruh said. “We want the summer programs to be a
much more vital part of student culture.”