SALT LAKE CITY — When University of Utah announced the number of courses offered during its peak school days to be reduced, there was some confusion on campus about the university’s motivation for the change.
Suppose you ask Eric Sheffer, a senior majoring in business management.
In that case, he’s under the impression — next semester the university will offer no more than 50% of its classes during the peak days of Tuesday and Thursday between 9 am and 2 pm to primarily make it easier for students coming and going from campus.
“So, the social media post, the Instagram post where they announced this new policy effect, says it all had to do with solving a campus parking problem,” said Sheffer. “It was focused just on parking, not about flexibility and stuff like that.”
But university spokesperson Rebecca Walsh said flexibility and scheduling is what it’s all about, that students will benefit with more classes scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“In some cases, these courses may be offered only once a semester or once a year, and if you miss your opportunity to get into that class, you may have to wait another semester, two more semesters or a whole year to take that class,” said Walsh. “Our hope is that by adjusting the uneven scheduling of courses and spreading out the courses, it will open up more opportunities and more flexibility for students to get those required courses in a timely manner.”
Still for Sheffer, he believes next semester he’ll have a slimmer chance of staying on his current schedule, and that he won’t be able to juggle work and school at the same time.
“If this new policy goes into effect, I’ll have to take more afternoon and night classes which directly affects my ability to go to my job and pay my bills,” said Sheffer.
Walsh countered, that only five percent of classes at the university will be impacted next semester.
“We don’t expect any increase in night classes. Students will still have the ultimate choice of when they take their classes and what works best for them,” said Walsh.
