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UL - The state’s budget crunch has the University of Louisiana looking at ways to expand its summer school options to boost enrollment.
The university faces a $13.7 million budget cut next year. To offset the anticipated budget reduction, ULL President Joe Savoie created task forces earlier this year to investigate cost-saving and revenue-generating strategies.
One of those task forces focused on summer school, but its scope has expanded to target other academic delivery options, such as distance learning.
While an enrollment increase equates to more dollars for the university, it also means more students are crossing off the courses they need to graduate.
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By MARSHA SILLS
Advocate Acadiana bureau
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“The students, if they can’t get what they need at the university, they’ll go elsewhere,” said Ellen Cook, ULL assistant vice president of academic affairs, who chaired the committee. “I think if we’re trying to educate them in four or five years, then to the best of our ability, we need to offer them what they want.”
The summer session begins June 8 and continues through July 31. For the past few years, the university has offered some courses in a four-week format, while continuing the traditional eight-week summer course schedule.
The short sessions will be held June 8 to July 2 and July 6 to July 31.
Efforts are also being made to add more high-demand courses that tend to fill quickly in the regular sessions, said the director of ULL’s junior division, Bette Harris, who also served on the task force.
In the four-week, short sessions some courses, such as accounting, are offered in succession so that students can complete lower course work in one summer.
Cook said the task force also found that the university fell behind in its marketing of summer school options to students compared to other state and regional universities
A new Web page will soon launch to expedite summer school information to students.
In the long term, the task force identified the need to expand ULL’s distance learning options. Cook said an informal survey of faculty and students showed that 64 percent of students wanted more distance learning courses during the summer. Online and evening course options are also available.
Cook said the university plans to hire a distance learning director to coordinate an expansion of online courses and assist faculty who are interested in developing online curriculum.
Another consideration the task force identified as a way to boost summer courses is to increase faculty participation with a new pay scale.
“In the long run, what we’d like to do is revamp our whole approach to summer school from ground up, including faculty salaries,” Cook said.
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