Laura Hill dreaded waking up for her 7:30 a.m. class during her freshman year at the University.
“It’s so hard to wake up that early, and if you miss the class, you’re discouraged to go to your next classes,” said Hill, an education sophomore.
Although the early hour makes it easy for students to decide not to attend their early morning classes, many students take them because they can finish school and do other things.
“Early classes make you motivated,” said Palak Patel, a biological sciences sophomore. “I take [early classes] because I just want to be done with school.”
According to the Office of Budget and Planning, there are 161 sections of 7:30 a.m. classes — 4.2 percent of the 3,815 total sections.
As of the 14th day of the spring 2004 semester, 5,788 students had enrolled in at least one 7:30 a.m. class.
According to a Duke University news release, Duke’s administration noticed the students’ tendencies to schedule classes between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., so Duke has decided to eliminate its 8 a.m. classes.
Trey Sellers, a physics sophomore at Duke, said the schedule alterations will not affect him.
“Not too many people took early classes unless they had to,” Sellers said.
Sellers said that mostly incoming freshmen took introductory classes and foreign language classes at the early time.
“There is no discussion about getting rid of early classes at LSU because we have been working to unpack students’ schedules,” said Karen Denby, LSU’s dean of enrollment management. “It’s hard enough making sure there are enough classes for all students.”
Denby said the LSU administration does not want to cause any built-in schedule conflicts, and the University’s large student population of about 30,000 also makes it difficult to eliminate any classes.
According to Duke’s enrollment chart on Duke’s official Web site, the school’s full-time undergraduate population is only about 6,500.
According to the news release, Duke will be implementing an individual wellness plan next fall for all incoming first-year students to focus on sleep, exercise and nutrition.
When asked whether LSU should begin a similar plan, mass communication sophomore Paul Coussan said that it would be a good idea, but he has doubts.
“Students may not go because they are already sleep-deprived because they are too busy to sleep,” Coussan said.