UNC’s Maymester and summer sessions to offer more classes

As students begin registering for summer classes today, they will find more options at a price not affected by budget constraints.

The cost of summer school — made up of tuition and student fees — increased from $190 in 2010 to $200 in 2011 per credit hour for in-state undergraduate students — an increase of 5.3 percent, said Jan Yopp, dean of summer school.

The budget constraints that led officials to a much larger tuition increase for the 2011-12 academic year left summer school unscathed, as its funding is receipt-based, Yopp said. Those tuition dollars have supported increased hours during summer for the writing and learning centers and the Undergraduate Library.

“We do not get any state appropriations,” Yopp said. “Summer school operates like a business within the University.”

The modest tuition increase came alongside an increase of 12 Maymester courses from last year’s 24. Between 550 and 600 courses are offered in first and second session of summer school.

Summer school enrollment increased by 2.8 percent between 2008 and 2009, and currently sits at 7,388.

Yopp attributed this rise in enrollment to more frequent advertising for summer programs, the state of the economy and the University’s greater concerted push to graduate students in eight semesters.

“The reality is that for a lot of students, if they want to do that second major or a minor, that they’re going to have to pick up something in the summer,” Yopp said.

New courses offered this summer include language immersion in both Spanish and Chinese and a week-long jazz workshop opened to anyone older than 16.

Beginning this year, students on the medical track can complete the Spanish minor for the professions in a single summer in an effort to make the minor more available, said Darcy Lear, coordinator of the minor.

She said summer school is adding 20 seats to the minor because there are insufficient resources to admit all students into the program during the year.

“We can meet demands for three out of four tracks in the minor: business, journalism and law,” she said. “But we can’t even come close to meeting the demands for the fourth track, medical.”

Summer courses offer not only convenience but also more face-to-face interaction in the classroom, said anthropology professor Karla Slocum.

Slocum added that she is looking forward to her first Maymester class this summer.

“That intensity of each day I think is going to facilitate getting to know one another really well and to become comfortable with discussion,” she said.

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