What are some great recommendations for summer vacation plans? After midterm examinations, students get busy making plans and reservations for their exciting summer vacation. On the other hand, some students spend their time filling out different kinds of application forms for their meaningful summer vacation. Summer and winter vacations mean much more than just two months of break from school. Unlike the vacation times we had when we were younger, when the main purpose was just to earn more time to study, university students try to spend their vacations doing something special. And the meaning of the word “special” differs greatly from student to student. Many invest their summer vacation on traveling, developing hobbies, exercising and going on a diet, sleeping and resting, playing, or even studying. As a matter of fact, a substantial number of students plan to use their vacation time wisely by studying. Of course students have different reasons for why they have to study even during the vacation times; some might prepare for the graduation requirements, an admission of some kind, as supplement materials for previous or following courses, and much more. As a result, often there are students who try to stay in KAIST for the summer time and enroll in the summer session courses provided by KAIST.

However, students have trouble because there are not many courses open for the summer session, and the tuition fee per credit is very high. Not many choices are left, especially for undergraduates who do not enroll in Individual Study courses. In addition to the small number of course choices, limitations on the number of students able to enroll in each class restrict students who want to use summer session to earn valid credits. On top of the lack of diversity, many students still complain about the high tuition fees students have to pay for the summer session.

As for now, the school policy is set to open only few classes during vacation times and activate classes during the regular semesters. However, it is not bad to open more classes for the students who need and want to study during the vacation. Most KAIST students have tight course schedules filled with their major subjects in their regular semesters. The heavy workload during the spring and fall semester is very notorious. During these busy sessions, it is hard to take time and focus on the non-major subjects, such as liberal arts classes. Even though there was no intention to scale different subjects according to their importance, there are subjects with lower priority and these subjects can be much more appreciated one is simply given more time. Also, some students want to use their vacation wisely by filling some of their required credits for many other purposes. Furthermore, vacation semester courses can be used as supplementary classes for lacking subject areas if there were more choices. There would be many more ways to effectively use vacation semesters if more courses were opened with lowered tuition fees.

ⓒ KAIST Herald 2011 (http://herald.kaist.ac.kr)
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