With deep budget cuts giving a Freddy Kruger handshake to the 2004-2005 class schedule, students who previously reeled at the thought of spending summer in a classroom may now find the option to be a relief.

Summer school will be offered as a state-supported program enabling college chairs and deans to plan their 2004– 2005 academic schedules as a three-semester program, assisting students in earning a degree in a timely manner.

Based on the most recent budget scenario, which was revealed at the town hall meeting on the budget on March 3 and 4, SF State is facing a $13.9 million budget shortfall for the 2004-2005 academic year. Administrators have warned that in order to offset the deficit, class sections and teachers will be eliminated from SF State, which will take effect during the 2004- 2005 academic year that summer leads, unless they receive additional funding.

“I think this year summer school will not be a discretionary option. It will be more imperative because of the reductions that will occur in the fall,” said College of Behavioral Social Sciences Dean Joel Kassiola.

The summer school schedule will be planned in conjunction with the fall schedule so it will be an opportunity to make up for the absence of classes in the fall, Kassiola said.

“We are working up the fall schedule and asking each chair to express where the fall schedule in inadequate in offering courses the students need and then attempting to make this up in the summer,” said Kassiola.

Summer school provides assets that are lacking during the fall and spring. The goal at SF State is to use the facilities year round to best stretch the limited amount of resources, Alan Jung said. The school is basically full of students, all the major time slots for classes are taken and most teachers are teaching at maximum capacity during the regular academic year, he said. Summer school provides an option to students who have reached roadblocks in their education because of the schools limited resources.

“We try to offer classes that will improve time to degree,” (the time it takes to get a degree), said College of Extended Learning Dean and Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Gail Whitaker. This usually translates to high demand classes such as general education, major and graduate requirements, she said.

Vice President of Administration and Finance Leroy Morishita said the size of the summer school program will depend on the estimated 2004-2005 budget. It will likely be smaller than last year, but that is still to be determined, he said.

During the 2003- 2004 academic year SF State actually accepted more students and provided more classes and sessions than the state provided money for, which is unlikely to happen again due to the two successive years of budget reductions, Morishita said

Morishita said he is working with SF State President Robert Corrigan to determine the budget for the summer and will inform college deans of the full- time equivalent student target sometime in the next couple of weeks. Once deans know their target they can decide how many classes they would like to offer, which classes to offer and which teachers to hire.

College of Humanities Dean Paul Sherwin said, the number and type of classes they schedule are dependent on the number of students enrolled in summer school and the salary of the instructors.

This year California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed gave CSU campuses the option of offering summer school through state support or self support, such as the College of Extended Learning (CEL). When giving this option he stated that self-supported programs could not charge students more than the cost of state support.

After about a month of collaboration, provost John Gemello, college deans and others recently decided for the third year in a row to offer summer school as a state-supported program. After discussing various budget scenarios they concluded that state support would offer the best solution for administrative costs and student needs, Whitaker said.

Offering summer school through state support allows the administration to use state funds to keep the campus running. If summer school was offered through self-support it would cost students significantly more because no state money could be used for that purpose. Students’ fees would pay for everything if summer school was offered through CEL, Academic Resources Acting Associate Vice President Alan Jung said.

Furthermore, CEL no longer has the infrastructure to run summer school. The infrastructure was dissolved when the CSU system moved to state supported summer school in 2001. If it were to switch back to self support, SF State would have to pick up the cost of developing that infrastructure so students would be paying for that as well, Jung said

“It would have been a very difficult undertaking to go to self support, but we had to explore it,” Jung said.

Previous to 2001 SF State’s summer program was offered as a self-supported program through the CEL, which could charge more money for the same classes than when offered through the State, Whitaker said. This scenario is financially more difficult for students.

If summer school were offered through CEL financial aid would not be an option, which would make the cost of summer school a burden that many students might not desire to endure.

Because summer school will be state supported the cost will be the same as the fall and spring semesters. Although summer classes run only for five and eight weeks they offer the same number of hours in the classroom.

In order to be eligible for summer session financial aid students must attend SF State during regular semesters and be recipients of financial aid. Students not receiving financial aid must fill out the proper forms as soon as possible in order to get money for the summer, Financial Aid Counselor Robert Chang said.

The amount of money offered for summer session is based on what is remaining from the previous fall and spring semesters.

“Apply early, before you even know if your classes are being offered,” Chang said.