The possibility of a full summer quarter in 2005 has been ruled out under a new campus schedule, which includes the two separate five-week sessions offered in the past instead.

In an effort to expedite the development of a longer, more uniform summer session across UC campuses, California lawmakers had considered partial state funding for UCSD’s summer session last fall.

However, current funding will not allow the campus to have a full program like those offered at UC Berkeley and UCLA this year.

“As with everything at the UC level, these things take a while to happen,” Associate Vice Chancellor of Undergraduate Education Mark Appelbaum said. “But over the next couple of years, we will start receiving money for summer sessions.”

UCSD, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara will have two sessions available this summer. UC Irvine will be offering three session in the same time period, while UCLA and UC Berkeley will host four and five summer sessions of different lengths, respectively. UCLA and UC Berkeley’s campuses need the added summer sessions because of high numbers of enrollment, according to Appelbaum.

“[UCLA and Berkeley] are filled to their limit with students already,” he said. “Offering summer sessions is one of the only ways that can help with their high enrollment.”

Because of the UC system’s obligation to admit the top 12 percent of California’s graduating high school seniors, the campuses have faced a problem of accommodating rising numbers of these students, Appelbaum said. UC administrators believed efficiently using summer sessions could solve such a problem and began a government buyout of UC summer sessions by funneling state funds into some campuses over the past several years.

“The state began by buying out summer sessions at places where expansion of [the] campus wasn’t possible, like UCLA or Berkeley,” Appelbaum said. “Soon there was a gross inequity between UC campuses, so to reconcile that, they agreed in this year’s budget that some gross dollars would go toward buying out the rest of the UC campus summer sessions.”

Previously, summer instruction at UCSD received no state aid and was funded solely by student fees paid during those sessions. However, last fall, the possibility of receiving immediate funds from the state invoked ideas of improving and lengthening the summer session.

During a Nov. 3 A.S. Council meeting, A.S. President Jenn Pae discussed the opportunities for potential state funding for the year, including a 10-week quarter similar to the UCSD school year and to a session option offered by UCLA and UC Berkeley.

In a Jan. 24 interview with the Guardian, UC President Robert C. Dynes said a full summer session would allow the university to expand student access at a lower cost than other alternatives.

“The interesting thing about opening up the summer programs is that you’re not drawing down in the other quarters,” he said. “So you’re not adding a number of students and depleting the services.”

While funding for students during the summer would have come out of money set aside for enrollment growth in the state budget, the option would not require new facilities, Dynes said.

“We will accommodate the additional students by opening up another quarter,” Dynes said, without offering a timeline for the expansion. “We won’t have to build any new buildings to accomodate that. … Sure, it costs more money, but what we don’t have to do is build new facilities to do this. It doesn’t change the student-to-faculty ratio, and it doesn’t delete the quality and the student services that you’re going to want.”

UCSD will receive half of the state “buy out” this summer, and the rest next year.

However, time constraints will not allow the state money to be used for improvements in the 2005 summer session, according to Appelbaum. The normal five-week periods will allow for campus faculty and staff to prepare properly for the academic year ahead, he said.

“Overall, it will look pretty much the same, except there will be more courses offered by regular-ranked faculty,” he said. “We still plan for summer session to be done in two blocks. The university still needs time during the summer to get the place back in shape for regular quarters.”

However, improvements are on the way for UCSD summer sessions because of future state funding, Appelbaum said.

“A student attending summer session three years from now will notice things like many more classes, a higher number of faculty and extended library hours,” he said. “We’re going to offer a first-rate summer session.”