For many students, summer classes offer a great but expensive opportunity to get an extra general education course in or fulfill an outstanding major requirement. Priced at $2,467 per unit for Summer 2026, students can face difficulties since less financial aid and merit help is available.

Going forward, USC administrators are planning several changes to the 2026 summer session, including expanded access to high-demand courses, a new pricing model for students taking heavier course loads and more small-class-size offerings. 

Andrew Stott, USC vice provost for academic programs, said in an interview with the Daily Trojan, that the University reviewed which summer classes students needed most in an effort to improve access.

“We have analyzed what classes are most in demand … prerequisite courses or required courses in majors that are often oversubscribed … to enable people to make sure they can get a seat when they need it,” Stott said. 

Stott also said there will be a new scholarship model intended to make summer enrollment more affordable for students of all financial brackets. For students taking a full load, 12 units, they will receive a summer scholarship where they pay the equivalent cost of 10 units.

Derek Wang, a sophomore majoring in behavioral economics and psychology as well as business administration, said he took a few summer courses last year and found the online format flexible, while also having more group work and collaboration.

“I feel like the work is not as heavy as regular classes. … I took [‘Intermediate Microeconomic Theory’] and [‘Operations Management’],” Wang said. “It’s pretty straightforward, [with] the majority online. It’s a different experience, since [‘Operations Management’] requires a lot of group work and team projects.”

Celine Li, a sophomore majoring in computational neuroscience and applied mathematics, said she took a two-unit class last summer and hopes to take more courses this summer. She said she researched the upcoming summer session changes and believes it will help her advance in the pre-med track.

“One of the things that it has allowed me to do was double major because I want to graduate within four years,” Li said. “Double majoring without summer classes is just not an option, so having the flexibility of summer classes allows me to pursue more courses that I’m interested in.”

Rita Barakat, a biology professor who will teach “Cell Biology and Physiology” over the summer, a requirement for most pre-health students, said she is looking forward to the smaller classes the summer format allows.

“I’m teaching four sections of the class. We have over 800 students, and that can be really daunting for students,” Barakat said. “A lot of students naturally want to have that more intimate class experience, so the summer enrollment is currently capped at 20.”

“Cell Biology and Physiology” will offer a “flipped classroom” setting, according to Barakat, in which students review lecture material before class and spend class time working on practice problems while collaborating among students in a smaller classroom, developing a deeper connection with their professors. 

“As a vestige of the pandemic era, students were so used to consuming content asynchronously already,” Barakat said. “I’ll just record 30 minutes of me talking about this part of the content, and then when we come [to] class, I’ll check in,” Barakat said. 

In addition to courses on the University Park Campus, students living or working on the East Coast will also be able to take classes at USC’s Washington, D.C., campus, Stott said. 

“They’re going to be running an institute for students in D.C. to talk about open dialogue and debate,” Stott said. “Most importantly, if students are doing internships in D.C., they can also come and do those GE classes and keep their trajectory moving forward as well.”