Summer Class

[tempwe]

Would it be possible to take an online summer course during an summer internship?
I know the handbook says we are not allowed to take summer courses/they won't pay for them/etc.
Does anyone know if it would it be alright if I took a class and paid out of pocket? It's a required class for my degree, I want to lighten the course load for one term.

[malarious]

Applicable parts of handbook:

(7.5)

Under rare circumstances, requests for additional tuition and/or enrollment can be made. Enrollment and/or completion of coursework during summer and/or condensed winter terms, whether taken online or at a physical location, requires prior authorization from the SMART Program even when the academic institution does not assess tuition charges for the additional term/enrollment.

This is the only directly applied part. I could not find an actual section that indicated you cannot take classes in Summer, just that they won't pay for them outside the Fall and Spring semesters. That said, the wording in the above, if I omitted the first line, could be taken to mean you MUST have their approval to take the classes. So tread carefully. I would e-mail them.

[summertime]

Several years ago, I submitted a request, that was approved, to shorten my summer internship by a week or two so I could go back to my school for a summer course. The course counted as a degree requirement, and directly applied to my SF's mission. The SP payed the tuition too. Don't remember the name of the form I filled out, but it was some request form I found in the portal.

Sharing this as an fyi. Dunno how the program's changed since then and/or what the likelihood of them helping you out with this is, but it may be worth a shot submitting a request form (if an applicable one is available) and initiating a dialogue with the SP about this. I wouldn't bank on everything in the handbook being set in stone. The program was flexible for me in some cases.

Also, if the online summer courses do not conflict with your summer SF responsibilities, I don't see why taking them would be a problem.

[PhdSMART]

I am taking online summer classes as a requirement for my degree program. If it doesn't interfere with your internship and is required to graduate then I do not see why you cant. You can always ask.