Economics Of Summer Course Scheduling

Abstract

This paper addresses some of the relevant issues that University administrators face when determining a policy for academic coursework offered during the summer period, and the development of a mathematical model that may be used to guide management policy. It is suggested that the economic ramification of summer course policies may not be well understood, including understanding the potential long-term effect of discounting on summer per-credit charges. An empirical example is provided to demonstrate how administrators may utilize optimization and economic principles to address summer course pricing in an imperfect and ambiguous market.