Even after 15 grueling weeks of the semester, journalism senior Megan Murphy said she would be studying through her holiday break, taking a winter session class for the first time.
"Even though I don't really want to, I am taking classes to get ahead and make sure that I graduate on time," she said. "I will probably take an Internet course because of the convenience, especially because it is around the holidays."
Apparently, many students are thinking like Murphy, as winter session enrollment has jumped 13 percent in the past year.
Linda Backer, manager of ASU winter sessions, attributes increased student interest in the broader variety of courses available this year.
"The increase comes because we have a larger selection in classes as well as more Internet courses this year," she said.
As of Tuesday morning, 2,454 spots were filled, but Backer said she anticipates that the number will grow, since students have until Dec. 24 to register.
According to Backer, there is a 20 percent increase in the new classes offered from last year's curriculum. Of the students enrolled so far, about 700 of them are taking Internet courses.
She added that, until last year, students could only take three credit hours or less, but in 2001 a petition made it possible for students to take more credits.
Even though students are allowed to take more classes, Backer said the situation only occurs in rare cases.
"Only about 15-20 students have [enrolled in more than three credits] this year," she said.
Because winter session is only three weeks long, each winter session class day is equivalent to one week of classes during a regular semester.
"It might be a burden to take more than three units," Backer said. "We don't encourage students to take more than three [hours] because we want to make sure they are comfortable with a condensed schedule."
Backer said students should try to enroll in winter classes by Dec. 13 because any course that does not meet the minimum enrollment will be cancelled at that point.
Michael Rubinoff, professor of religious studies and humanities, is teaching "Modern is Real: Origins to Present" online this year.
Within two weeks, his class reached capacity and even after raising the maximum capacity from 30 to 45 students he said he has received almost 40 requests for overrides.
He said that students enrolling in the online classes aren't getting off easy.
"By its own composition, [online classes] force students to be prepared to class otherwise they will fall behind," Rubinoff said.
It costs $131 per credit hour during the session and if students want to take more than three, they need to get an override petition from their college.
Reach the reporter at jennifer.summers@asu.edu.
