Summer Session as a Slack Period: Implications for University Policy Makers

Summer sessions at universities in North America had their origins in the 19th century when the economy was primarily based on agriculture. When college ended in Spring, students vacated the campus, returning home for the summer, often to engage in farm work. Summer sessions arose partly out of the need to utilize the campus more fully and partly out of the need to serve such clientele as school teachers, who were free during the summer and interested in improving their professional status. As summer sessions sprung up, and as agriculture’s demands for seasonal labor declined, more and more students planned on the summer period as a time to continue their university work. Summer schools spread throughout North America, and most colleges today have a summer session. Nevertheless, to this day, summer continues to remain a period when most students choose not to study on their home campuses, preferring instead to travel or to work. In recent years, with college tuition increasing at an alarming rate, more students elect full-time summer employment in order to maintain their status as degree students in the fall and spring. Typically, less than half of the students who enroll in the fall term register for credit classes in the summer session. Table A shows this pattern. The campus continues to be only partly utilized by students in classes during the summer at most universities. Furthermore, summer Summer Academe, 1996-1997