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Changing colleges saves change

Summer school has been a perennial source of cheap credit hours for students whose budgets are smaller than others’.  Tuition for twelve hours of summer school is almost three times cheaper than a full-length semester, making summer classes very enticing for anyone on a tight budget.

That is, until people see the price difference between a summer semester at UH and any local community college.  Students who take classes during the summer at UH will pay literally a thousand dollars for their classes – or more – than those who transfer their credits from a community college.

It’s understandable that the university can’t afford to give prices quite as low as a community college; our campus is much larger (and nicer) and requires a proportionate amount of money to maintain its facilities.  But when six hours of credit at San Jac costs less than just the fees for one summer class at UH, something is wrong.  The credit is the same, but the total tuition for a summer semester is $1200 more at UH than a community college.

What is really disconcerting about the cost of summer school are the mandatory fees imposed on students.  Even if a student is enrolled in only one online class, he or she still has to pay the fees for the UH Wellness and Recreation center as well as computer lab fees.  These fees increase for every class added.  For classes held on campus, mandatory fees almost double.

Some students don’t even have the luxury of choosing a vastly cheaper option.  Seniors are required to take their last 30 credit hours at UH, regardless of what classes they have left – even if it is a foreign language or non-major prerequisite.

This means seniors trying to get their core class hours are forced to pay three times what the class would cost somewhere else.  It’s unfair, especially considering UH would have gladly accepted transfer credit for the class had it been taken before the 30 hour cutoff.

The university’s biggest summer school drawback, however, is that there is no way to find these fees until you have enrolled in classes.  There is no way to find out exactly how expensive a class will be until you place it on your schedule – and even then fees are determined on a class-by-class basis, making it extremely difficult to try and compare prices between two UH classes.  Trying to compare classes across colleges is even more of a hassle.

If UH really cares about saving students’ money, it needs to provide a listing of all of the fees students will incur for each semester in each class – and include a comparison of roughly how much the class would cost at a nearby community college, as well.  If insurance companies can compare direct quotes, surely an institution of higher learning can do the same.  At least then students will be able to see exactly how much more they will spend for their credits.

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