March 20, 2000
More summer classes key to UC enrollment plans
By Brad Hayward
Expanded summer instruction will be a key component of the University of California's
efforts to accommodate enrollment growth over the next decade, assuming that necessary
state financial support is provided, UC officials told the Board of Regents March
16.
"Expanding instruction during the summer will make efficient use of our facilities,
help some students graduate earlier, reduce the impacts of growth during the traditional
academic year, and provide innovative new academic opportunities," said C. Judson
King, UC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. "We are ready
to move forward on this exciting and challenging task, and the support of the state
is crucial to our success."
Growth in California's college-age population is expected to increase UC's general-campus
enrollment by 63,000 full-time-equivalent students between 1998-99 and 2010-11. This
43 percent increase equals the university's growth over the last 30 years and also
is roughly equivalent to the combined enrollments of UC Berkeley and UCLA.
The university is pursuing a range of options for accommodating this growth. Strategies
include expanding regular on-campus enrollments during the fall, winter and spring
terms; opening the new UC Merced campus; offering more instructional programs at
off-campus centers; making use of advances in educational technology; and improving
students' time to graduation.
Expanding instruction during the summer term is another important strategy, and the
Legislature has asked UC to report by April 1 on the feasibility of this option.
Providing an overview of the report's findings, UC officials told the Board of Regents
today that about 27 percent of UC students now attend the university during the summer,
virtually all of them part-time. The university believes it is possible to increase
summer enrollments substantially.
The state does not currently fund the summer session. UC is requesting that the state
change this policy so that students attending in the summer pay fees and receive
financial aid equivalent to that provided during the regular academic year, and also
receive an academic experience comparable in quality to the rest of the year. State
funding for the existing summer session would cost the state about $54 million per
year, and future enrollment growth in the summer would receive the same per-student
state funding as in the fall, winter and spring.
"The state has expressed strong interest in an expanded summer term, and it
is an essential part of our plans for accommodating this enrollment surge,"
said Larry Hershman, UC vice president for budget. "We look forward to working
with Gov. Davis and the Legislature this spring on a plan to make this idea a reality,
hopefully by the summer of 2001."
Expanded summer instruction would allow some students to graduate earlier, making
room for others. It would reduce the traffic and housing impacts that would occur
during the traditional academic year if all growth took place in the fall, winter
and spring. It also would provide students and faculty with innovative educational
opportunities in less-crowded settings.
UC needs about $500 million per year in funding for capital facilities over the next
decade, ranging from construction of new buildings for enrollment growth to renovation
and seismic reinforcement of existing facilities. Expansion of the summer term could
save up to $30 million per year in UC's capital budget by reducing the need for new
classrooms and class laboratories.
King said the university is considering a variety of incentives to encourage student
and faculty interest in the summer term. Faculty would continue to teach three quarters
per year, and the addition of the summer as part of the regular academic year would
allow professors to utilize a different part of the year for intensive research activities.
Incentives for students might include such things as increased financial aid; short,
intensive courses; courses tailored to the sophomore or senior summer; special laboratory
and clinical experiences; classes designed for incoming students; and expanded summer
Education Abroad programs. Other ideas also are under consideration.
UC officials also presented to the Board of Regents a list of 10 "principles
for expanded enrollment" that will guide the university's planning. The principles
are: sustaining UC's commitment to the Master Plan for Higher Education, ensuring
quality, fostering graduate education and research amid undergraduate enrollment
growth, ensuring the participation of all campuses and providing them local flexibility
in implementation, ensuring affordability for students, securing adequate operating
funds from the state, providing adequate space for growth, expediting students' time
to degree, protecting important public service programs that occur on campus during
the summer, and working well with local communities.
