The university announced a tuition reduction for 2021 summer courses on Feb. 10.
Summer school used to sound boring as a kid, but in college, it can give you a chance to get ahead. Webster University made it a little easier on students this year.
Webster dropped the summer tuition rates to $545 per credit hour for the summer 2021 semester. Part-time enrollment costs $725 per credit hour during the school year, so the decrease is a money saver for part-time students.
However, many full-time students depend on scholarships and financial aid to attend Webster. These funds are not available for summer courses. This means that most full-time students will still be paying much more for one summer course than a course taken during the school year.
Students pursuing summer internships are especially impacted by this. An internship course, MDST 4950, is required for many School of Communication majors like journalism, advertising, audio and film.
Forking over $1575 to work at a more than likely unpaid internship over the summer isn’t the best option for a college student. The School of Communications internship director, Trezette Dixon, understands this and is looking for ways to solve this issue. Dixon says that in some schools, more students do their internships in the summer rather than the fall or spring semester.
“But it could be a school where a lot of students pay out of pocket with no problem, whereas we have a large amount of our students that are on some type of financial aid,” Dixon said. “That’s why it’s important for me to investigate ways we can help with that in order to really encourage, not discourage, the types of opportunities that students would gain in the summer internships.”
The opportunities Dixon mentions include being able to fully focus on the internship, work full-time and learn the culture of the job. The internship experience is more immersive when you don’t have four or five other classes to worry about.
Dixon is still searching for a way to financially support students pursuing summer internships. She advises students to apply for scholarships to help with the credit hour costs. The School of Communications just announced scholarships available this semester that could be applied to summer courses.
Overall, Dixon believes the summer tuition drop will still allow more students to partake in summer internships.
“I thought it was a great initiative by the university to say, ‘We care, we’re paying attention. We understand that the relief we can economically provide will help you continue to be a part of the Webster family,’” Dixon said.
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