Students Better Get to Class This Summer

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By: Luci Strickland, BBA in Marketing and Corporate Relations, University of Mississippi

lrstric1@go.olemiss.edu

College students enrolling in summer school are going to need to start taking their classes a lot more seriously. That’s because federal aid programs will soon require students to attend 60 percent of their classes or be forced to pay the aid back.

Bailey Doctor, a junior nutrition major at Ole Miss, says she sees nothing wrong with the new rules.

“If you can’t attend 60 percent of your summer classes, then you probably shouldn’t sign up for summer school in the first place. Summer school is a way to help students and so is financial aid, and if you can’t follow the requirements given, then I see no problem with having to pay it back.” Doctor says.

Laura Devin-Brown, director of financial aid at Ole Miss, says attendance has always been a part of financial aid rules, but now the government is starting to take the rule more seriously. She says her office is trying to help students avoid making costly mistakes.

“We don’t open the summer [financial aid] application until the day MyOleMiss opens for summer registration, so that way the students can see what courses they need to take and the aid they need to apply for.” Devin-Brown says.

Devin-Brown says the best advice she can offer to a student applying for aid is to sign up for summer classes as early as possible so that the right type of financial aid will be awarded.

Summer federal financial aid is distributed and awarded based on the number of hours a student has signed up for in the summer.

Students that fail to attend regularly will find the amount they are required to pay back posted on their Bursar account under MyOleMiss and must be paid back before applying for any more classes.

Dr. Dwight Frink, a management professor at Ole Miss, will be teaching classes this summer, and he sees no problem with the rule. He will not change the way he takes attendance in his classes.

“The new policy won’t change the way I take attendance in my class, I will be more aware of students but in the end it won’t change anything for me.”