Students trying to get ahead on coursework by taking summer classes at the University of Iowa may struggle to enroll in courses they had initially planned to take.

The UI announced last month the Summer Hawk grant had changed so students could apply the grant to no more than six semester hours. Under the old provisions, students could use the grant for up to 12 semester hours.

Although the budget cuts were a key factor in the reduction of summer courses and the Summer Hawk grant, Lisa Ingram, an assistant provost and director of the Academic Advising Center, said students’ academic success while enrolled in that amount of semester hours was also a consideration.

“We found that students that were taking 10 or 11 or 12 hours often were struggling,” she said.

Ingram said a College of Liberal Arts & Sciences committee that met to discuss course offerings from previous summers and determine based on enrollment trends which courses were important to keep on the books.

“If students were typically taking a lot of chemistry or math in the summer, we’d want to keep those offered at the same rate,” she said. “If there were multiple [general education requirements] in historical perspectives, maybe we would then eliminate some of those because they had other choices and they weren’t so critical.”

Journalism associate professor Don McLeese said his arts and culture reporting and writing course was removed from the summer 2017 course offerings, despite previously being posted on MyUI.

McLeese expressed concern about the effect the reduction in course offerings would have on students’ four-year graduation rates.

“Students factor into their graduation plans that they are going to be able to take certain courses during the summer,” he said. “… This will have an impact on their timetable for graduation.”

Instructors receive one-ninth of their annual salary as compensation for teaching a summer course, said Brian Lai, the director of undergraduate studies in the Political Science Department of. Now, those instructors will no longer receive that compensation.

“We got word [of the reduction] a few weeks before registration started for summer classes, so they’re still getting their normal pay,” he said. “Many of them had anticipated getting extra compensation for teaching a summer course.”

Lai said the Political Science Department initially planned to offer 10 courses during the summer semester. They were posted on MyUI, but now that number sits at seven, all of which are online courses.

“The case that we tried to make to the college and to the provost was that these classes were not [offered] at additional instructional costs to the university, because they generate additional revenue,” he said. “I think we were able to get one course returned, but that was it.”

As the UI continues to grapple with budget problems, Lai said, the UI should think creatively to manage summer revenue concerns and not be so dependent on certain streams of revenue that are inconsistent, such as international and nonresident student enrollment. The UI saw a decline in international student enrollment this school year.

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Ingram said it is important for students who are planning to take summer courses to register early.

“If [advisers] hear stories about areas where many students need a course to stay on track, we can go back and re-evaluate,” she said. “Often during the summer, we are adding additional courses if there is a great need.”