More students is goal of new summer plans

Several recommendations made by the Summer Quarter Committee will be implemented this June to increase summer enrollment, ease demand for particular classes and use University facilities more efficiently. The goal is to increase summer enrollment by approximately 14 percent, or to 16,000 full-time equivalent students within the next biennium.

President Richard L. McCormick and Provost Lee L. Huntsman will move ahead this year by recruiting currently matriculated UW students, offering high-demand courses, and extending student financial support policies used in the regular academic year to summer quarter.

These changes were among the Phase 1 recommendations proposed last May by the Summer Quarter Committee, chaired by Dean of Arts and Sciences John B. Simpson. The committee went on to recommend the enhanced summer quarter be gradually transformed over several years into a regular fourth quarter, dependent on political, budgetary, and enrollment demand.

“With the Phase I steps currently being implemented, we expect to increase summer quarter's attractiveness to our students, ease curricular bottlenecks, and better facilitate students' progress toward their degrees,” Huntsman wrote in a recent letter to deans, directors and chairs.

Many of the courses with the highest rates of registration denials during the academic year will be offered this summer, with increased flexibility to add sections of selected courses at the last minute, if needed. Departments are encouraged to integrate summer quarter into their annual curriculum planning, and already a number of department initiatives have resulted in new summer courses linked in series. Afternoon and evening courses also will be expanded and summer field courses that will increase undergraduate participation in research are encouraged.

Vice President for Student Affairs Ernest Morris, at the request of the president and provost, is in the process of extending student financial support policies for the regular academic year to summer quarter. Academic-year financial aid policies include allocating 3 percent of total tuition and fees to provide tuition waivers to students on the basis of need, with an additional 1 percent on the basis of achievement. Another 3.5 percent is distributed to students as grants. Work-study policies and assistance to those seeking private scholarship also have favored students during the regular academic year.

In addition, future tuition increases will take effect in autumn quarter to encourage students to enroll during the summer before prices increase.

This spring UW students will begin hearing more about summer offerings through a stepped-up publicity and advising effort. Information about summer quarter will be provided in advisor packets, the summer quarter bulletin will be mailed to current students and mailings will be sent to freshman concerning the summer start program.

Other committee recommendations to make summer quarter more attractive to faculty will be further studied. Under consideration is the possibility of extending the quarter to a standard 10-week session plus a final examination period and limited short courses.

The Summer Quarter Committee Report can be found from the UW Web homepage under News and Events, UW Reports. Comments from individual faculty and graduate student appointees regarding making summer quarter more attractive to faculty can be sent by e-mail to provost@u.washington.edu or by campus mail at Box 351237.

Summer quarter currently is a self-sustaining program administered by UW Educational Outreach. Total enrollment in summer 1997 was more than 14,000, half of whom were regularly enrolled UW undergraduates and another quarter UW graduate students. Even though it is one of the largest summer programs in the nation, reports indicate that incorporating it into a regular fourth quarter would not be successful at this time. In keeping with the committee's recommendation, fully integrating summer quarter into the regular academic year will depend on future student demand and budget flexibility. ¶

Nedra Floyd Pautler