FAYETTEVILLE -- Three times a year, classes pick up their pace at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Students enroll in sessions as short as eight class days and one day for exams, receiving credits usually amounting to one-fifth of a typical semester workload for those on track to graduate in four years.
"If you weren't able to schedule a class during a semester, if you didn't pass a class, or if you change a major and discovered you need to take a prerequisite, this is an opportunity to take a course and catch up," said Provost Sharon Gaber.
Introduced in May 2013, UA's intersession enrolls a few hundred students each term, a small number considering UA's total of more than 26,000 students.
Other sessions are offered in January and August. While May 2014 enrollment dipped to 670 from 680 a year earlier, the January session saw strong growth. This year, there were 797 intersession enrollments in January compared with 544 in January 2014.
Higher education researcher Lisa Lattuca, an education professor at the University of Michigan, said that when considering the quality of such courses, which she estimated have been offered for more than 20 years, it's the content that matters most.
"Some courses lend themselves to that kind of approach, and other courses don't lend themselves to that kind of approach," Lattuca said.
In intersession courses, students meet several hours a day and on weekends. Some courses are compressed versions of fall or spring classes, like a classes on personal finance, money and credit taught by Chris Tompkins, an adjunct finance instructor.
"I teach those essentially just the same as I do during the full course," Tompkins said. "The time is compressed obviously, but if you put it out on a spreadsheet, then the number of minutes one has in class for an intersession course is about the same as for a full term."
Other classes involve learning experiences that faculty would otherwise be hard-pressed to duplicate in semester format.
Andrew Fidler, an animal science instructor, in January taught a course he referred to as a "pre-veterinary academy," bringing in speakers to explain details of veterinary school for the 10 students enrolled.
"They were able to be with the students for about five hours and get five hours of contact time, which was really valuable I think," Fidler said.
Hanna Cline, 21, said she enrolled in Fidler's course in part so she would not have to take so many credits in the next semester. "That would lighten my load a little bit," Cline said she recalled thinking, adding that she's also mindful of enrolling in enough credits to stay eligible for a scholarship award.
She said the visits from speakers stood out the most, along with hands-on work doing necropsies on animals in the small-class setting.
"It felt very different from our other college classes because we were very open with each other. It helped us learn, in my opinion, because we were able to talk and communicate so much better," said Cline, who expects to graduate next year.
Gaber is leaving UA to become president of the University of Toledo. In a November cover letter, Gaber wrote that UA's intersessions "also had the added benefit of increasing revenue."
For the 2015 fiscal year, the intersession held in August brought in $502,845 in student tuition and fees, while the intersession held in January brought in $689,512 -- more than doubling budgeted instructional expenses of $454,250 for the fiscal year, with one intersession yet to take place.
To compare, UA's largest academic college, the J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences, brought in about $89.4 million in student tuition and fees in 2013-14, just over twice as much as the UA college's instructional budget of about $44.1 million. But making simple comparisons can be a challenge even between colleges, UA spokesman Laura Jacobs wrote in an email.
"Factoring in number of classes taught, the class size, whether the courses are taught by full-time faculty vs adjuncts ... all make a difference in the net tuition vs instructional cost," Jacobs wrote.
The intersession revenue goes into UA's general revenue fund. In January, departments or programs offering more than one course included English, community health promotion, communication, finance, history, psychology and philosophy.
So far, only one undergraduate mathematics course has been offered in intersession format.
"It's really a lot of elective courses that have been offered," Gaber said, adding that it's up to individual UA colleges to decide what's appropriate for intersession.
As far as growth, Gaber said "there would be an opportunity in the future to think about it."
Tim O'Donnell, UA's interim vice chancellor for finance and administration, wrote in an email that expenses like the administration costs and utilities aren't captured in UA's instructional budget.
But, "naturally, if these classes continue to generate sufficient interest from students, we will continue to expand the program and revise the instructional budget higher," O'Donnell wrote.
Deciding a budget for intersession primarily involves the provost and vice chancellor for finance and administration, according to Jacobs, with the chancellor and ultimately the UA System trustees involved.
Molly Jensen, a clinical associate professor of marketing, taught a course in January for students planning a career day for Marvell-Elaine High School in Arkansas' Delta region. Jensen worked closely with UA senior Shannon Klenke, who worked on the effort as a thesis project.
As part of the course, which enrolled 14 students, the class traveled to help teens with career skills and with planning for their education.
"It would be very difficult in the middle of a semester to get a classroom full of students to be gone for three days," Jensen said, noting work and activity demands on students.
Ebone Allen, a junior accounting major, said she is originally from Forrest City, less than an hour from Marvell-Elaine High School. Allen said she enrolled because she is familiar with the needs of the area.
"I'm definitely a fan now of intersession," Allen said.
Metro on 04/27/2015