Emily Kelley / Roundup
Summer can be a time for students to relax, vacation and reboot for the coming fall, but for some Pierce College students it is a time to get that extra class in at Summer Session.
This years session will last from July 6 to August 7 for five-week courses and July 6 to August 21 for seven-week classes.
Unfortunately, only 20 classes are still open, seven of which are physical education courses.
“A great deal of thought and planning go into the decision about how many sections of different courses are offered each semester,” said Carol Kozeracki , dean of research, planning, and enrollment management, in an email. “That process may limit the number of students who would otherwise enroll in courses,”
As of Friday, 8,150 students have applied for the summer session, according to Dean of Student Services Marco De La Garza.
De La Garza said that they’ve been receiving 300-500 applications a day for summer session, when the applications have been open since October.
Registration was available starting in April and students can register for classes through the first day of class.
As “chief instructional officer,” Vice President of Academic Affairs Abu-Ghazaleh makes recommendations of classes based on a number of factors.
“The information I get are based in part on the demands on the schools budget, student needs, and input from the different departments about the courses they feel are critical to the students,” said Abu-Ghazaleh.
Last year, two sessions were scheduled, but due to budget cuts, the second was cancelled. 9,000 students were enrolled in the first session and 5,000 were enrolled in the second.
“This years session is about half the total size of last years proposed sessions,” said Abu-Ghazaleh.
Abu-Ghazaleh pointed out that this will be would be a “comprehensive” session unlike Winter Session, which only offered courses in English, math, and speech.
“This year we’re not trying to shift the distribution around the entire college, but we are trying to maintain a broad distribution of classes,” said Abu-Ghazaleh.
He requested 250 sections for the summer, which would be five times more than was offered at Winter Session.
While it seems like there is too many students and not enough classes, there is still a possibility a class can be under enrolled.
“It happens very rarely, and usually in specialized classes, which we still try to offer,” explained Abu-Ghazaleh. “Usually, if it’s really low enrolled in the beginning, we cancel it and shift the resources to a course that has a heavy demand. “
According to him, classes “cost” the same to offer, and it’s the number of units and the teacher’s pay grade that determines how much to budget.
“We don’t look at the cost as the initial factor. Summer is designed for people to catch up on the courses they are really trying to finish to complete their major or as a starting point,” said Abu-Ghazaleh.
Student can apply and enroll for Summer Session using the Student Information System on the Pierce website.
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