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Free Food, Room a Hard Deal to Resist at Kutztown U.: College's Summer Offer to Let Students Just Pay for Classes is Proving Popular.

Posted on: Wednesday, 31 May 2006, 00:00 CDT

By Genevieve Marshall, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

May 30--Although Andres Wewer is taking a year off to work and travel to Italy and France after he graduates from Emmaus High School, he'll get a taste of college life this summer by living at Kutztown University.

Wewer, 17, of Macungie, will study philosophy and sound editing for five weeks in July and August -- leaving for school before any of his friends do -- but will return home just as they are heading off to start their freshman year.

By registering for two courses, he was eligible for Kutztown's offer to live on campus for free this summer while he studies. He will share a dorm room and get 10 meals a week for the cost of two classes, about $1,500, for the five-week summer session.

"I wanted a change of scenery," said Wewer, who has a job at Ice Cream World and isn't sure what he wants to major in. "It's going to be different, but not totally different from the way my life is now."

This is the first year Kutztown has offered free room and board to any student in the summer. The state-owned university has touted the deal in radio and newspaper ads as a $960 value.

The school already has 286 takers for the first summer session which begins Wednesday. The second five-week session runs July 10 through Aug. 10.

More than 1,900 students have signed up for the first session, compared with 1,700 last year -- an increase of 12 percent, said George Paterno, assistant provost and director of summer programs. Meanwhile, enrollment increased only 3 percent overall between the 2004-05 and 2005-06 academic years.

"That's how we know it's working," Paterno said. "There are definitely some people interested in living on campus who would otherwise not be taking classes over the summer."

Kutztown also has seen an increase in the number of credit hours taken over the summer. Enrollment for the first session was still open last week, and already the university was 800 credit hours ahead of last summer's first session.

Mansfield University, in Tioga County, has a nearly identical plan, and West Chester University, in Chester County, originated the idea in 1998.

"We were the first in the country to offer free room and board that we know of," said Loretta MacAlpine, spokeswoman for West Chester University. "It's a great way to give our students a break and for us to net some income for over the summer."

Kutztown and the two other schools, all of which are part of the State System of Higher Education, also are luring their own students for summer classes with free room and board in addition to attracting students from other schools who are home for summer break.

Kutztown officials expect that more-recent high school grads such as Wewer will enroll in the second session to get a jump-start on their college education.

Wewer struggled with attention deficit disorder and had a "rough four years in high school," according to his mother, Anabella. He was accepted at Hamilton College in New York, but with his parents' input, he decided it would be better to work for a year and spend a few months in Europe before committing to a college.

"Andres is very smart, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life," Anabella Wewer said. "Besides, we thought he needed a break."

Living on campus will give her son a chance to experience living on his own and making his own schedule, while still living close to home, she said.

The timing of the first session makes it difficult for most high school seniors to enroll because most don't graduate for another week or two.

The first session has attracted mostly Kutztown students who need to make up a class they failed to keep their financial aid eligibility or to lighten their course loads during the regular academic year, said spokesman Phillip Breeze.

Breeze said some Kutztown students with jobs in the area have decided to stay for the summer and continue working, while taking a couple of classes because of the offer.

The deal benefits Kutztown by filling the dorms -- an under--used resource during the summer months -- at little cost to the university.

"We already own the dorms," Breeze said. "We might as will have people living in them year-round."

The program is open to college students and to high school graduates who have been accepted at an accredited, four-year college or university, regardless of where they live.

It costs about $1,500 for in-state residents to take two classes, at a rate of $204 per credit plus fees. Non-residents pay $511 per credit.

The university's main expense -- covering the meal plan -- is offset by tuition for the additional three-credit course students are required to take to get the deal, Breeze said.

Liz Drake, the principal at Emmaus High, said she is recommending the offer to students who can use a stepping stone between high school and college.

"It's a very good opportunity for students to get a sense of college life while they're close to home, and get credit towards a degree," Drake said. "It's very creative."

genevieve.marshall@mcall.com

610-820-6585

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Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania

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