Ah yes, summertime! For most college students it’s a wonderful time to recover from the stresses of class, get a tan, and maintain your social life. But for some, summer means a time to get a head start on classes for the next academic year. Why would anyone willingly take summer classes when they could be relaxing at home, spending time with friends, or earning extra cash?

You’ll graduate sooner! The average coed needs 120 credit hours to graduate. If you plan on graduating in four years (and with college prices these days, you hope to), that’s 15 credit hours a semester. Taking summer classes at a local community college and transferring them helps alleviate costs and can help you graduate early.  That means less loans and more money in your pocket!

Classes are shorter! Summer classes last half the amount of time. If you dread that Macroeconomics class, take it over the summer and you’ll only be bored for 5 weeks instead of 15.

It’s laid back! When you attend college in the summer, you will find that the campus is way more laid back. Fewer students, faculty, and staff are on the campus, which leads to perks. You’ll find better parking, friendlier instructors, and classes move quicker when there are less people to interrupt the instructor.

Make job contacts! Because there are fewer students in your summer classes, you will have more of an opportunity to get to know your professors. This could give you a chance to network and make contacts for finding a job later.

Make new friends! Whether you stay in the college are or go back home for the summer, taking summer classes gives you more opportunities to meet new people…which is one of the perks of summer break as mentioned earlier.

Summer classes are cheaper, shorter, more laid back, and you’ll get to make new friends, find job contacts, and save yourself money in the long run. Sounds like a great summer vacation to me!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 and is filed under Surviving at college.