Summer session may not be any easier at Penn State, but small classes and increased interaction between students and faculty brings a small town college feel to a Big Ten university.

During the summer, the number of students enrolled at University Park drops from around 42,000 to 12,000.

Despite the drop in student population, it is a common misconception that summer classes are less difficult than during the regular school year.

The same material is covered as during the normal school year in his Accounting 211 (Financial and Managerial Accounting for Decision Making) course, said Charles Smith, professor of accounting,.

"I'm not easy on them," he said. "There's a good distribution of grades."

There are typically three types of students who take accounting courses during the summer, Smith said. Students who are conscientious and take the class to get ahead, students who have failed it previously, and non-business students who are taking the course for a minor, he said.

"I had one person who was taking the class for the third time," Smith said.

With so much material to cover in only a six-week period, the pace can be difficult for professors as well.

"It's hell on earth getting through the material," he said.

Since there is less time to teach, Smith said sometimes odds and ends get cut in the process.

With only 35 students instead of 375, Smith said he can pay more attention to individual students and count things like class participation and improvement when deciding a grade rather than just relying on tests.

Enrolling in a summer session course does not necessarily guarantee a good grade, Smith said.

In his accounting class last summer very few students received A's and a fair number of students received D's or less, he said.

"I'm not going to do any students any favors," Smith said. "They know my standards, they appreciate being pushed."

Graduate students teaching speech communication classes during the summer agree that although the classes take less time and sometimes do less work, the intensity level more than makes up for it.

Audrey Deferding, a graduate student who is teaching a speech communications class this summer, said the majority of her students are upper classmen who are required to take speech communications prior to graduating from Penn State.

One advantage to taking the summer session course is the class size is reduced, as well as the speech time length she said.

"There will be fewer assignments," Deferding said.

However, with only six weeks to learn the material instead of 16, students need to tell the teachers immediately if they do not grasp a concept, she said.

Deferding said students do not get the same saturation from the shorter course.

Ensuring students get the same benefit from summer session courses as from fall and spring semesters is a difficult task, she said.

"It takes a lot more creativity to foster the same amount of learning," Deferding said.

Although classes may not necessarily be easier, students who stick around University Park between semesters say there is an advantage to summer session.

"It's not that they're easier, you just get more individual help," Brad Champion (senior-aerospace engineering) said.

Instead of taking a class with 40 to 60 students during the fall or spring, a summer aerospace engineering class might have six to 10 people, Champion said.

"It's more personal."

Champion said there is an advantage to taking classes during the summer, not because they are any easier, but because of the extra attention from professors.

Summer session English 202 classes are different, but not easier, said associate professor of English Margaret Lyday.

Because the course is compressed, each week covered during the summer is equivalent to 2 1/2 weeks during the normal school year. Because of these time constraints there is no room for time extensions on papers, she said.

"The summer is an easier time for most people to take classes," Lyday said. The days are longer, the classrooms are air-conditioned and the atmosphere is more relaxed, she said.

Although there are summer variations in the syllabus for the summer session, the same amount of material is covered, Lyday said.

However, sometimes the pace gets overwhelming for both the students and the teachers, said English 202 instructor Jody Nicotra.

"It ends up being exhausting after a while," she said.