You may have noticed signs around campus encouraging passersby to “Take home the Dome for the summer” by enrolling in an online summer course. A natural conclusion might be that these signs are directed at Notre Dame students looking to complete coursework in between the spring and fall semesters.
That conclusion isn’t necessarily wrong. But it’s not quite right, either.
While Notre Dame students do account for the majority of enrollments in the University’s Summer Online program, the courses are open to anyone with a high school degree.
For Notre Dame employees, that means it’s an opportunity to use the tuition remission benefit, which can pay tuition for one undergraduate or graduate-level course (up to three credits) per summer/semester.
Aviva Wulfsohn, administrative coordinator at the Harper Cancer Research Institute, used the benefit to take a two-credit graduate course on the computer programming language Python last summer.
“I found the course very challenging in more ways than one,” says Wulfsohn, who enrolled purely out of interest in the topic, not as a part of a degree program or to fulfill a requirement for her job. “However, the instructor, Victoria Woodard, was excellent. She was very thorough and enthusiastic, and was more than willing to meet with me—numerous times—outside of class.”
An associate teaching professor in the Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, Woodard herself has had the experience of returning to the classroom as a student when she was already a faculty member. She says some of the students she was teaching in her data science classes were so well-versed in computer programming that she decided to pursue a master’s in computer science to expand the ways she could work with them.
Woodard, who holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and statistics education from North Carolina State University, identifies with anyone who might feel intimidated about enrolling in a course where they won’t be a “traditional” student. But she also found that it came with two distinct advantages.
“One, I had a job where I could practice and apply the things I was learning,” says Woodard, who earned her M.S. in computer science from Indiana University South Bend in 2023. “Two, since I was older and a professor, I was able to better relate to the instructor and build rapport.”
As such, she has simple advice for anyone who feels like she did.
“Take a class and learn something new, and if you're worried about being behind the rest, focus on your advantage … and use it.”
This year’s Summer Online lineup features courses on everything from foundations of business analytics, calculus, and computer programming (including Woodard’s Python class) to the Vietnam War and American Catholics, Shakespeare and film, and a variety of language classes in Arabic, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
Summer Online courses meet once or twice a week in live online sessions, typically held in the evenings. In between, students work through online content, either independently or in groups. Small class sizes help ensure online courses deliver the same rigor and excellence that define Notre Dame’s in-person offerings.
It is worth noting that in the case of graduate courses, the tuition remission benefit may be taxable income for employees who use it. Undergraduate classes, though, are not taxed under the program, regardless of whether the employee is degree- or non-degree-seeking.
“At a higher education institution, we understand the importance of continued education for our employees and are proud to support our employees in their education endeavors,” Denise Murphy, assistant vice president of Total Rewards, says.
Registration for Summer Online is open now, and there are three sessions of classes to choose from:
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June 3–July 26 (eight weeks)
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June 3–July 14 (six-week option 1)
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June 17–July 26 (six-week option 2)
The summer 2024 course list and FAQ are available at summeronline.nd.edu. Questions can be directed to summeronline@nd.edu.
For more information on the tuition remission benefit, visit hr.nd.edu/benefits-compensation/educational-benefits. Note that this page also includes information about educational benefits for the children of eligible faculty and staff, which can be applied to Summer Online courses, as well.