Summer classes help students in the long run

Classes can keep students busy and stay on track for graduation

Madison Diemert
News Editor

Students will take summers off to rest and relax after a long school year. It’s their time to regroup and get energized for the upcoming semesters. Students will also take summers off to work and save their money so they can fund their education for the next semester.
But some students will continue their education through the summer months. This can be for many reasons, but for most students it is so they can graduate early or stay on track for graduation. If you’re someone who knows they might need to take an extra year to graduate, taking summer classes is the best idea to stay on track.

Look, even I can’t fathom taking more classes when I should be on break, but that might be something I have to do. For me, it is more important to graduate on time rather than have a longer summer break. And most students should be in the same mindset.

But, if you’re still not convinced, think about how much more time will be going into your schooling, when it could be going toward getting a job and building a career. For me to go into publishing, I have to start at the very bottom and work my way up, and I would very much rather have more time for that than more time for summers or taking a fifth year of school.

I have met many fifth-year students at MSU and all of them agree that if they had sucked it up and taken at least one or two summer classes, they’d be much happier. Instead, they wanted the extra weeks to relax and they’re stuck taking another semester or two just to get their degrees. They could be finished with school but they’re still here, biding their time.

Even if you know you have to work a lot over the summer, you can definitely still take a class. Online classes are also available during the summer if your work schedule cannot fit around a class period. Summer classes are also much shorter than regular semester classes. For comparison, here at MSU we have sixteen-week semesters, and summer classes are half of that.

As students, we should be willing to take an 8-week class during the summer so we can spend less time on school in the long run. It could help those of us who need to take an extra semester, and could boost those of us who want to just get out early.

Everyone at MSU should consider this a great opportunity and shouldn’t worry about things like summer jobs or relaxing. We’ll all still have time for our jobs and for relaxing, but we won’t always have time to get our degrees and get out into the workforce.