DeKALB | Both students and professors find there are advantages and disadvantages to summer school at NIU.

For Joe Cerniglia, junior public safety management major, going to summer school can make it easier for students to get their college degree more quickly.

“It allows you to not waste time with easier classes,” Cerniglia said.

According to a 2009 US News University Directory article weighing the pros and cons of attending summer school, the benefits of going to summer school include smaller classes, classes with more relaxed atmospheres and the ability to study for classes with more intensity than normal.

However, summer classes may not cover all the material, there are a smaller selection of classes and students end up paying for extra classes, the article stated.

Students have more one-on-one teaching, said Edina Daugherty, senior German translation and business major.

Classes are smaller, said Valerie Garver, associate professor of history.

“When you have a class that has 350 students in a fall section and 320 in the spring section, going to 25 in the summer is a relief,” said teaching assistant John Bruce.

The pace of the classes are better during the summer, said Andrew Setterstrom, visiting assistant professor of information systems.

However, one disadvantage is that students view the summer as vacation, Setterstrom said. Bruce said while it is possible to teach on a shortened schedule, there is concern students may not be able to keep up at an accelerated pace.

“It’s hard for students to catch up if they miss even one class due to illness,” Garver said.

Bruce said he believes it is better for remedial classes to be taught in the summer should a student need to take a sequence of classes in which one class is a prerequisite for another.