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Printer-Friendly ModeFriday classes an unpopular option for most
September 21, 2009 —
Some students have no trouble finding parking spots on campus. The trade-off: they set their alarms on the eve of Friday classes.
Historically, the bulk of classroom instruction at SVSU has occurred on a Monday through Thursday basis – a setup that allows for the greatest number of twice-a-week, 80-minute courses in Monday-Wednesday and Tuesday- Thursday combinations.
As enrollment increases and necessitates additional course sections, more students are finding themselves in the classroom Fridays. The Friday population still does not compare to the early-week flock, however, as it comes at price of relinquishing a threeday weekend.
“My weekend starts Thursday,” says Ebony Littleton-Orr, a social work sophomore. “I wouldn’t ever take a Friday class.”
Courses that land on Fridays fit either a Monday-Wednesday-Friday or strictly Friday format, each option amounting to about three hours of instruction.
Most faculty instructing threehour courses have preferred the twicea- week schedule, said SVSU President Eric R. Gilbertson.
“With the three-day-a-week classes, you’ve got 50 minutes, you’re barely getting started and then it’s over,” he said.
Accounting senior Katie Hanover attends an upper level course Friday mornings that counts as an elective toward her degree.
“I don’t like it,” Hanover said. “I can’t go home for a longer weekend and I’m not as focused either.”
Students heading home on weekends or visiting friends at other universities could point to why campus tends to be more bare come Friday, said Chris Looney, assistant vice president of Student Services and Enrollment Management.
Looney said the University has worked hard building dorms and adding social incentives for residents to stick around.
“I think it’s helped us see a greater number of people stay,” he said.
Looney said scheduling courses needed by a large audience, such as general education requirements, or upper- level courses needed within a major are ways of assuring Friday classes will fill up.
The University dropped only 10 courses – a record low – due to insufficient enrollment this semester.
SVSU does save on energy costs toward the end of the week, said Stephen Hocquard, the assistant vice president of Campus Facilities.
Occupancy censors in most classrooms determine when lights shut off. The University also can regulate the amount of fresh air coming into buildings in relationship to the number of people expected to be inside.
“Overall it’s probably quite a bit,” Hocquard said of the money saved, “but it’s not a reason not to have classes.”
Gilbertson said the scheduling pattern that places most classes in a four-day block began long before his days at SVSU – a time when commuters’ convenience took precedence over that of a small resident population.
More than 70 percent of this year’s freshman class resides on campus with a total of around 2,700 students.
Although demand for more course sections means classes must fall somewhere between Monday and Friday, “we’re still trying to be responsive to what our customers want,” Gilbertson said.