Karen Torgenson, the college's director of undergraduate admissions, called Doyle back to tell him that she thought Zahra would be a good candidate for the expanded spring admission program. In this way, Virginia Tech officials said, their spring admittees can still count on graduating in four years. Zahra said she plans to enroll at Northern Virginia Community College and keep her job at a nearby telemarketing firm until she moves to Blacksburg. High school counselors have begun to embrace the new admissions systems. Bob Turba, chairman of guidance services at Stanton College Preparatory School, a public school in Jacksonville, Fla., said many of his students, often from families with few college graduates, like the summer term option offered at many Florida state schools.
Summer is a terrific time to come to college and just learn where everything is.
At the University of California system headquarters in Oakland, officials are discussing a major expansion of summer classes to help absorb an anticipated 40 percent jump in applicants over the next 12 years. Paul Marthers, senior associate director of admissions at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, said the strength of wait-listed applicants persuaded his school to approve a few spring admissions this year, but he recommended that it do this very carefully. Students need to feel connected to the school and not like second-class citizens who snuck in through the back door. The U.S. Dept. of Education's college-planning site. FinAid features financial aid information such as aid calculators.