Tumbleweed shouldn’t be your only companion while you’re on your way to class. NIU will be home to almost 10,000 students this summer.

A frail economy, fewer paid summer internships and fiercer competition to register for classes during the regular school year have spurred an influx of summer school enrollment, said Bob Burk, director of admissions.

NIU now is composed of about 9,800 undergraduate, graduate and law school students, which makes this summer’s enrollment almost 350 students ahead of last year’s, Burk said.

Last semester, summer school was up in the air when NIU had to endure severe budget recisions after the state’s budget office asked it to trim its operating budget.

However, cost-cutting methods, such as temporarily closing classroom buildings like DuSable Hall and shutting down the university on Fridays, were able to keep summer school alive.

There will not be a cap on enrollment this summer, so NIU will take as many students as it can – depending on the number of seats available in classes, Provost Ivan Legg said.

Classroom sizes are slightly bigger now, but students shouldn’t notice drastic differences in their education, Legg said.