UCLA's biggest summer session gives departments a cash boost

While recession woes force some California colleges to cut back on summer classes — Cal Poly Pomona even canceled summer session altogether — UCLA is looking ahead to its largest session ever.

 

Just a week after graduation emptied the campus, UCLA filled up again with thousands of summer scholars as the first classes started on June 22. About 6 percent more students than last year are enrolled, and departments are offering around 15 percent more classes. The classes offer a rare glimmer of economic hope to cash-strapped academic departments, who often make enough money from summer sessions to help buoy their academic-year budgets.

 

"Part of our secret, part of why we're not having to cut any summer classes, has to do with the way it's funded," explained Robert Cox, a manager in the Office of Analysis and Information Management. "It wouldn't make sense to cut units in summer. It would actually cost money."

 

During the academic year, academic deans can divide the budget up over multiple departments, but those departments receive student fees directly from enrollments over the summer. That makes summer classes a more flexible funding source than regular classes, especially if classes are popular. The more students in a specific course, the more money the department makes, explained Kathleen Micham, publications manager in the Summer Sessions department. As the need to offset a weak state budget grows, so does the number of classes.

 

"Departments are offering more classes this summer because they need the money," Micham said. Most classes run from June 22-July 31 and Aug. 3-Sept. 11.

 

By the numbers

 

Although there's still time for students to drop classes – and if enrollment in a class drops too low, it could be cancelled – early figures show departments offering 727 classes this summer, compared to 623 last year.

 

Summer classes will be filled by 16,140 students, according to figures from Steven Angelo, financial manager for summer sessions. That includes 11,600 UCLA students and 450 incoming UCLA freshmen, 750 students from other UC campuses, more than 1,000 students from overseas, close to 900 high school students and about 500 community members – not to mention roughly 1,000 UCLA students studying abroad, Angelo said. About 15 percent of UCLA degrees are awarded in the summer, according to Cox, and four out of five UCLA students take at least one summer class during their college career, compared to a little more than 50 percent 10 years ago, Micham said.

 

Creative solutions to boost summer classes

 

One of the new ways that Summer Sessions is helping departments and students cope with the effects of University budget cuts is, ironically, to offer discounts to students taking ten-week intensive introductory courses this summer to satisfy their language requirements.Departments in the Humanities Division know they will be strapped for funding for lecturers who teach introductory language classes during the academic year — but during the summer, the funding structure means the classes will literally pay for themselves, including the lecturers' salaries. In some summer language classes, the discounts have sent enrollment surging to nearly double last year's levels, said Cox.

 

"During the regular school year, these classes would be taught by lecturers hired on temporary funds, but there's almost nothing left in temporary funds," Cox said. "But this way, the students get the class at a lower rate, and the university can provide it without losing money by encouraging students to change what time of year they take the course. The campus is responding to the economy and providing more options to students."

 

Another money-saver is the Early-Bird Engineers program, an engineering program geared to incoming freshmen. High-school graduates can wade into college life and get some of their major course requirements completed during the summer, when the courses are more readily available and cheaper to provide, Micham said.

 

Social Sciences Dean Reynaldo Macias has encouraged his departments to offer more summer classes this year to increase students' options and boost department revenues.

 

"Departments that are most active in summer session are able to generate revenue that they can use on a discretionary basis for different departmental needs throughout the rest of the year," Macias said. "They can fund additional teaching assistants; pay partial salaries to part-time staff to increase their time commitments; give it to junior faculty as a research supplement. It's not a substitute for permanent monies, but as you have more budget cuts, the opportunity to use this discretionary funding can make those cuts less painful."

 

To encourage departments to offer more summer classes, one of the big changes Macias made this year was allowing ladder faculty to teach a course during the summer and count it toward their academic-year workload. Having star faculty on the summer calendar attracts more students, Macias said. Faculty also appreciate the flexibility it gives them during the academic year, and it encourages departments to offer more classes in the summer, Macias said.

 

The appeal of summer

 

Spreading classes out over four quarters instead of just the three academic-year quarters also helps the campus save money by essentially creating extra classroom space, Cox said. And while UC students pay $173 per unit because their fees are subsidized by the state, visiting students pay the full $243 per unit, making attracting visiting students a lucrative goal. UCLA students also save money if they’re only one or two final classes short of graduating. During the academic year, students pay on a per-quarter basis, equal to a full load of 15 class units, regardless of whether they take five units or 20. During the summer, they only pay for the number of units they take.

 

"Summer school is becoming a normal part of the undergraduate experience," said Micham. "If you want to finish in four years, it's smart to take summer classes. If you want the most economical degree possible, you'll take summer classes to make sure you're not paying for a fifth year."

 

But the appeal of summer classes isn't just the ability to speed through a four-year degree, she said.

 

"If I were a UCLA student, I would want to pack it on in the summer. Campus is so relaxed. You can get into any class, there are free tables in Ackerman, the grounds are so calm," she said. "Over the summer, they can have any GE they want. Maybe Psych 10 is booked all year, but it's no problem getting in during the summer."

 

How the economy factors in

 

Although the number of students taking classes during UCLA's summer session has grown almost every year since 2001, it's hard to pinpoint the reason for recent growth. This year's 6 percent increase is sharper than a 2.5 percent increase last year, Cox said. Although he believes summer session growth is mainly the result of subsidies for UC students put in place in 2001 that more than doubled the number of students taking summer classes, Cox agreed the recession is probably having an influence on the latest increases.

 

"Families are seeing their retirement accounts and college savings funds get massacred," Cox said. "I imagine that information got shared between parents and students, and the message must have been not to waste time because it will cost money. If you want to save money, the worst thing you can do is come back for an extra quarter and a fifth year, because you have to pay for an entire term even for just one course. And the sooner you finish at UC, the less likely you are to pay the next round of fee increases."

 

Despite economic woes, Micham said, there have only been one or two calls from parents calling to cancel their students' summer classes for lack of funds. Even the number of students planning expensive study-abroad experiences this summer is holding steady.

 

"Enrollment for our overseas programs started slow in fall, when the market looked so grim, but it picked up as people got over the shock," Micham said. "It's up to full strength."

 

Of course, some students do leave UCLA for the summer, Cox said.

 

"There are always students who have other things to do that take priority," he said. "Working. Traveling. I think some students may still even take vacations!"