Summer is swiftly approaching and many students have begun to consider, or have already planned out, their summer activities and endeavors. Some of the more determined students may be looking into the option of taking summer courses.
Those who have taken or will take summer courses, have realized that the financial aid available for summer courses is almost nonexistent. Currently, the only summer scholarship available is an early graduation summer incentive scholarship which requires students to be in the final 30 credit hour stretch of their degree. While it may be a great scholarship, it does nothing to help students like me who are nowhere near the final stretch. With TOPS and an endless variety of other scholarships available, many students are managing to get through college with the help of lots of financial assistance, myself included. With so many scholarships available during the regular semester, it’s a mystery as to why only one is available for the summer semester. For some majors, such as music majors, each credit hour takes a ridiculous amount of time to complete and it is extremely difficult to achieve any type of bachelor’s degree in music during the customary four years. The summer semester is appealing for students who are either music majors or find themselves in similar predicaments. The prices for summer courses for last year were as follows: $652 for three hours, $1,131 for six hours, $1,589 for nine hours, $2,048 for 12 hours, etc. On top of that, prices are guaranteed to be raised by at least $100 for the 2012 summer semester. If anyone is thinking this does not sound like much, remember, we are students and not everyone’s mom and dad pay their tuition.
Another concern with summer courses is the lack of knowledge and availability of 100 percent online courses. Southeastern is largely a commuter university and running back and forth to campus for one or two courses during the summer can be an inconvenience. For those going out of town or working, a purely online course would make the most sense.
My father recently retired and moved to Tennessee which forces me to spend my entire summer out of state. I am majoring in marketing and attempting to get a minor in music, and, as previously mentioned, music classes are intense. Being the determined, overachiever student that I am, I decided it would be a great idea to knock out some extra credits during the summer. So, my search began for what I thought would be reasonably priced online summer courses. As of now, I have yet to find a single 100 percent online course for the classes I was hoping to take
The entities that award scholarships should consider those students who are determined to excel and find a way to assist them in their studies. There are numerous scholarships given out every semester for everything under the sun. How hard would it be to devote a few of those scholarships to the summer semester?
As for the obscurity of the online courses, it seems to be a result of pure inattention. Just today, after a lot of deep searching, I discovered that there is a listing of online courses. However, it was very difficult to find and none of the staff members I talked to had any idea about where to find this list. If the staff can’t figure it out how are students expected to find it on our own? Some simple steps can be taken to make the online course catalogue a bit more organized and accessible.
If you want to see a change, talk to your professors, departments or faculty. If we as the student body speak out and make our opinions heard we can and will make a difference.