By Shelly Williams/managing editor
Students may have more time to juggle college, jobs and family with Trinity River Campus’ addition of Weekend College sessions starting this spring.
Eventually, all core classes will be offered 6-8:50 p.m. Friday, 9-11:50 a.m. and 1-3:50 p.m. Saturday and 1-3:50 p.m. Sunday in 16-week terms, said TR vice president of teaching and learning services Bryan Stewart.
The idea for the courses came from Interim Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley, and though all campuses offer Saturday classes, TR Campus will be the only one to offer full weekend courses this spring as it reaches a new student body.
“As far as the other campuses offering Sunday classes, I think that would be up to each individual campus,” Stewart said.
TR Campus has only one semester of enrollment behind them, but with the weekend courses, Stewart said this opportunity will open doors for students who cannot take courses during the week but still want to attend college or want to take extra courses on the weekends.
“I really think that Weekend College will hit a different population of Tarrant County College students,” Stewart said. “I think that there will be people who are currently at a TCC campus that might want to take a class, but you know a weekend class is a big demand.”
Stewart pointed out that Friday classes last basically the whole night.
“It’s going to take a special person to go to school on the weekends with special motivation,” he said.
He said that some students who might not want to deal with the parking issues among the five campuses during the week could take courses Sunday afternoons.
As the first trial semester progresses, the district plans to expand Weekend College courses into Saturday nights and more Sunday classes.
The Weekend College will also go into the next fall semester, Stewart said.
“I do think that we are looking into future terms at having smaller block courses,” he said. “In future semesters, we may offer something like a three-week block or like a seven-week block. I think that will be appealing to a lot of students.”
Current Saturday students will be surveyed to try to see how to make weekend classes better, Stewart said. Faculty throughout the district will have the opportunity to teach a weekend course, and the district will hire a new full-time weekend administrator from within the current TCC staff.
“We want this Weekend College to morph into what students want it to be,” he said. “Right now, it’s just a very limited Friday night, Saturday and Sunday offering, but if a hundred students say they want to take classes at midnight and we can find a teacher, then we might look into it.”
