Eat, Sleep for Free While You Learn: Hundreds of Students Take Advantage of Kutztown University’s Offer During Summer Sessions.

By Mike Trask, Reading Eagle, Pa.

Jun. 1–Jamie L. Goracy fell slightly behind during her first three years at Kutztown University.

Now the 21-year-old is using the summer session after her junior year to do some catching up.

Goracy and nearly 300 other students are taking advantage of a deal Kutztown University is offering for the first time.

Summer students can get free room and board — a $960 value — if they take at least six credits in a single five-week session. The first session opened Wednesday. Another will run July 10 to Aug. 10.

The offer was announced in March as a way to attract more students to summer classes.

“It’s a modest success,” said George H. Paterno, KU associate vice president of academic affairs. “At this point, it’s our intent to repeat it next year.”

Paterno said more than 1,900 students — most of whom commute or live off campus — have enrolled for the first summer session. That’s about 200 more than last year, an increase of about 12 percent.

Paterno said the free room and board helped boost the summer enrollment. As of Wednesday morning, 286 students had taken the offer.

In addition, the college has seen a 20 percent jump in the number of credit hours being taken this summer, Paterno said. The university offers about 200 courses in the summer sessions.

Paterno noted that it’s likely more students will enroll in the second summer session because recent high school graduates will want to get a jump on college.

Goracy, a social-work major from Hunterdon County, N.J., was happy to have a free place to live. Plus, it’s comfortable this time of year in Old Main Hall, where the rooms are airconditioned.

And the campus is much quieter than during the fall and spring semesters, when nearly 10,000 students are attending classes.

“There’s nobody,” said Goracy, who spent part of Wednesday afternoon enjoying the warm weather on benches outside the Student Union Building. “It’s crazy. I’m just here by myself.”

Goracy is taking classes in statistics and women’s literature during the first session.

Sarah M. Mason, 18, of Philadelphia is taking child psychology and fundamentals of math, two classes she needs for a bachelor’s degree in theater.

She’s using the summer session in hopes of raising her grade-point average. Like many, she’s thankful for the free lodging and meals. “It would have been harder financially,” Mason said as she hung out in her Old Main room. “So it helped out a lot.” Two other universities in the 14-school State System of Higher Education — West Chester and Mansfield — offer similar deals for summer sessions. Contact reporter Mike Trask at 610-371-5037 or mtrask@readingeagle.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Reading Eagle, Pa.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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