Sac State moves all summer classes online amid COVID-19 spread
Priority registration begins April 6
March 29, 2020
Sacramento State will hold all summer 2020 courses online due to the spread of the COVID-19, according to a SacSend email sent Sunday.
In the email, Sac State President Robert Nelsen said the decision was made after consulting with the CSU Chancellor’s Office, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and city, county and state officials.
Priority registration for summer begins April 6, and full registration opens April 13, according to the email. Nelsen said the first summer classes still begin May 26.
Nelsen said Sac State is working on indicating which classes will be taught synchronously and asynchronously. Synchronous online classes require that students log on during scheduled class times, while asynchronous classes do not.
Sac State is waiting for guidance from the CSU Chancellor’s Office on whether on-campus service fees will be charged for summer classes, according to Brian Blomster, Sac State director of news and communications.
Mandatory campus fees increased by $42 since The State Hornet last reported on the cost of summer classes in 2018, according to the College of Continuing Education’s website. This means one three-unit class for summer 2020 costs $1,234.
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Sociology major Kelsey Phillips said students should not pay for resources included in summer 2020 costs and that Sac State should help students gain access to resources.
“Stop charging us fees and just help us figure out how to get connected to the internet to learn,” Phillips said. “It’s very frustrating.”
History major Lauren White said in a Reddit private message that Sac State should discount summer courses.
“I think the school should discount the cost of summer courses,” White said. “That’s one way in which they could compensate us for what happened this semester.”
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Civil engineering major Kate Gladstein said online classes will not stop her from taking summer courses.
“The virus has not really changed my summer plans and I’m not going to hold back on any of the summer courses I was planning on,” Gladstein said.
At the time of publication, there are 314 confirmed cases in Sacramento county, according to the Sacramento County website.
UPDATE: April 1, 2020
This story has been updated to reflect comment from Brian Blomster, Sac State director of news and communications.
