Students who are anxious to transfer or graduate soon are in luck because this year they can attend the winter session.

Condensed into only five weeks, the winter session is an opportunity for students to finish their education faster.

“The winter session is possible this year due to economics,” Bill Mulrooney, director of admissions and records, said. “Basically, there were severe budget cuts last year that forced the cancellation, and the state is being a little more generous now with funds to the colleges.”

Although not as many courses are offered as in the fall and spring semesters, the winter session will still have a fair amount of classes for students to choose from, far more than the winter session in 2003.

“It’s going to be more than double of what was offered two years ago. It’s going to be over a hundred,” Mulrooney said.

Mulrooney advises that students to choose their classes carefully. Courses during the winter session are greatly condensed so the number of classes taken should be kept to a minimum.

“The same rules that apply for summer will apply for winter. Basically, two classes is a full load; it’s just impossible to do any more; and even two classes is a stretch for five weeks,” Mulrooney said.

Experienced students agree that having a shorter semester requires a great deal of time and effort. Some students, however, believe that the winter session is far too much work for them to handle.

“It’s a nice idea, but I would like to avoid it. I want to enjoy the break I get between semesters and not try to jam classes into five weeks,” Alessa Gottsdanker, 17, said. It’s nice if you are behind in your goals.”

Other students are happy about the opportunity to take winter classes and do well even in the short amount of time.

Some students might find that taking only one or two classes can be quite beneficial for the winter session.

“Taking only one class forces you to concentrate more because you only have one subject to think about and focus on,” Adam Bell, 26, psychology major, said.