Enrollment at Summer School Is Below Last Year's Level

Current enrollment figures for the Harvard Summer School reveal that almost 200 fewer paying students have signed up for courses this summer than had enrolled at this time last year.

A total of 2108 people, including 193 University employees, have registered for the Summer School so far. Last year, 2668 people including 182 employees and about 300 scholarship students had registered by the first week in June.

This year, the Summer School is not awarding scholarships, but the University is paying full tuition for enrolled employees. Last year employees were required to pay only a $25 registration fee.

"It's not so critical as we thought initially--I'm realistic about a good probability of breaking even," Michael Shinagel, director of continuing education for the Faculty, said yesterday.

"We've made all kinds of adjustments in the budget," he added." "If we get 2500 students, we'll break even."

H. Francois Wilkinson, associate director of the Summer School, said yesterday that the school will reduce costs where it is possible without decreasing educational benefits.

Shinagel said one possible way to further reduce costs may be to cut back the number of teaching fellows in some courses.

Last year, the Summer School ran at a $120,000 deficit caused primarily by the subsidy of 182 employees who did not pay full tuition, Shinagel said in April.

But Shinagel said that the Summer School plans to end up in the black next year.

"We'll have a basic credit course program," Shinagel said, adding that the school's aim will be to make its program more attractive to students.

In the past, the courses given at the Summer School have depended on what individual departments chose to offer. "We have to plan it more systematically, and get people to teach the basic introductory courses," Shinagel said.