SAN MARCOS ---- Summer school at Cal State San Marcos will start May 24 and run through Aug 18 and be offered in two six-week sessions, the university announced Monday.

And even though the university is reverting to making the summer session self-supporting, using no resources from the state budget to run it, the tuition will stay the same as that of the regular fall and spring semesters. CSUSM spokesman Rick Moore said the campus's "one-time" arrangement to cover its own summer session costs was a way to avoid cutting back on fall and spring programs.

College officials said they expect the summer offerings to emphasize courses that students nearing graduation need to complete the requirements in their major field of study. The offerings are also to be geared toward providing residents of the University Village on-campus housing complex a chance to complete required courses.

Fees for students already enrolled at the university will be the same as for a regular semester. Those are $594 for as many as six units and $1,023 for more than six and up to 12.

Students who are not enrolled at Cal State San Marcos may still take classes, but at $150 per unit. They would register through Open University and be admitted if space is available.

Courses generally award three units and students may take as many as 12 units worth of courses combined in the two summer sessions.

In 2003, the university offered some 150 classes. Moore said the university aims to offer the classes that students demand in the summer of 2004. Depending on that demand, he said, the summer program "will be as big as it has to be."

Supported by the state since 2001, the summer program for 2004 is designed to pay for itself, a change dictated by state budget constraints, Moore said. Any state money spent on summer school would take it away from the rest of the year, he said.

"We are so far down to the bone," Moore said, "that we cannot figure out any way to do this on state support without cutting into the offerings of the fall or spring semester."

Limited financial aid based on need is available for the summer session. Those wishing to be considered must make a request to the campus financial aid office and must have a 2003-04 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on file, the university said.

The class schedule is set to be posted April 2 at http://sweb.csusm.edu/Schedule. Priority registration begins April 5 at http://www.csusm.edu/smartweb.

The start of summer session in 2003 saw 1,740 students enrolled. In 2001, when the start of summer classes heralded the beginning of what the university called year-round campus operations, the state for the first time supported the summer programs.

Until then, summer costs had been higher than those of the fall and spring. The state support brought summer fees in line with the rest of the year. The self-support for 2004, which Moore called a "one-time" occurrence, does not result in higher fees.

Designed to curb the frustrations of students who are closed out of classes that are required for their major or for graduation itself, the summer terms have scheduled those hard-to-get classes.

The year-round operation was aimed at helping students get their degrees more rapidly and helping campuses accommodate increasing numbers of enrollees.