Winter session has been on thin ice at El Camino over the past few years, facing budget cuts and low enrollment.

Talks of bringing back winter session as soon as next year have recently surfaced.

“It was discussed in a meeting this past Thursday and the proposal will go before the board soon,” Alice Martinez, academic senate vice president of educational policies, said in an email.

Although there is talk of winter session returning as soon as January, that may not be the case.

“In 2017, we have a lot more time to talk about the pros and cons and the benefits for what it would take to do it successfully,” Jean Shankweiler, vice president of academic affairs said. “We wold have a lot more time to have the discussion with students, faculty and staff.”

Over the past few years, both students and faculty have voiced their support for winter session, saying that it is essential to graduate and transfer.

Since winter session has been cut, EC has offered two six-week summer sessions and one eight-week summer session.

“We’re able to get more people through the door with the extended summer classes than we were during winter,” Board of Trustee Vice President Ken Brown said in a Union story from November 2014.

Eddie Velared, 20, psychology major, hopes to transfer to UC Berkeley and is taking summer session to speed up the process.

“I want to take as many classes as possible to make the time go by. If winter session was brought back I would take both winter and summer sessions,” Velared said.

After the academic senate votes on the issue, it will be presented to the board of trustees for approval at its June 15 meeting.