To be or not to be … studying at Oxford University this summer, that is the question.

This will be the 40th summer that students will be able to take courses for NIU credit at Oxford University in England.

Classes will start June 28 and be held for five weeks until July 31.

Students are offered courses in English, Shakespeare, anthropology, biology and political science, ranging from general education to graduate level.

Each class is worth three hours of NIU credit and students are urged to take six credit hours during the five weeks, said Alexandra Bennett, Shakespeare and English professor for the NIU at Oxford Program.

This program only accepts 40 people each year so students are urged to sign up as soon as they can, said Gabriel Holbrook, college coordinator of the NIU at Oxford Program.

The program will cost a student $5,945, which covers tuition, room and board. Students must provide their own airfare, Holbrook said.

Holbrook personally meets every student when they arrive in England and provides a shuttle ride to Oxford.

NIU students will be attending classes and living in Oriel College, one of Oxford’s oldest colleges.

Classes are taught by NIU professors, but all of them will feature guest lecturers from Oxford and other organizations in the area.

Every course will feature at least one field trip. “Every play I teach we will see performed live,” Bennett said.

Field trips are course-specific and include, but are not limited to, the Globe Theatre, Stonehenge, the British Parliament and the British Coast, Holbrook said.

“There’s a lot of cross-disciplinary interaction between students due to the program having so many subject areas,” Holbrook said.

Students wishing to sign up for the NIU at Oxford Program must turn applications in to the Study Abroad Office, Williston Hall Room 417 by May 1.