2024 Summer Sessions Information for Rice Schools and Departments

General Information

Rice administers the Summer Sessions program to advance curricular goals and help students stay on target to graduate within six years. The Summer Sessions program is managed by the Office of the Registrar, and each school will determine its own course offerings.

The Summer 2024 Memo, which outlines various details, is available here. Also, please view the financial model information. Information on how to pay instructors for summer is available on the VPAA site.

Summer Sessions Academic Calendar

The schedule for the 2024 Summer Sessions can be found on the Academic Calendar for Summer 2024. The Summer Sessions are divided into seven main "blocks" with three additional parts of term to accommodate internships, research, and other types of courses.

    The Academic Calendar contains further information on refund rules (including refund percentages), University holidays, grade submission deadlines, etc.

    Key Dates

    Several key dates for departments and Academic Deans' office exist for the creation of the schedule of courses. (Note: Minimum enrollment requirements are subject to change at the discretion of the Budget Office and Provost.)

    • Wednesday, November 8: CourseLeaf CLSS opens for departments to begin entering proposed summer 2024 course offerings.
    • Wednesday, November 22: List of online courses due to Associate Provost for Digital Learning and Strategy.
    • Monday, November 27: Deadline for Dean of Undergraduate to submit list of courses most likely in demand for students to graduate by August 31, 2024. Deadline for Athletics to submit list of courses desired for student athletes to Dean of Undergraduates. Summer sessions website update is complete.
    • Friday, December 1: Deadline for departments to submit (in CourseLeaf CLSS) first slate of summer 2024 course offerings to Deans’ offices. Deadline for departments to submit requests to OTR for exceptions to approved Summer Session/Block dates; this includes any requests for international travel and/or graduate courses that are not housed in Sessions I, Full Session, Internship, Block A1, Block B1, Block C1, Block D1, Block E1, Block B2, or Block C2.
    • Thursday, December 7: Deadline for first slate of proposed summer 2024 course offerings to be reviewed by Deans’ offices and approved/rejected in CourseLeaf CLSS workflow.
    • Friday, December 8: Submitted summer 2024 Schedule of courses available in CourseLeaf CLSS for departments and Deans’ offices to review for all classes. Summer 2024 Schedule of Courses formally posted on courses.rice.edu. Summer 2024 registration officially opens in ESTHER. Admission and registration process for (summer 2024) visiting students officially opens (for visiting students, including visiting online and visiting high school students, to apply for Rice visiting student status). Registration is contingent on admission.
    • Friday, February 16: Deadline for final submission of summer 2024 Schedule of Courses in CourseLeaf CLSS by departments.
    • Monday, April 22: Deadline for visiting students to apply for Summer Session 1 courses (with all appropriate and required paperwork).
    • Monday, April 29: Summer Session I (15 Week Session), Full Session (15 Week Session), and Internship (15 Week Session) Begin. Deadline for visiting students to apply for Block A1 courses (with all appropriate and required paperwork). OTR sends list of courses for Block A1 with less than 5 enrollments; departments must submit justifications for exceptions by 5/1. Otherwise, course is canceled as of 5/2. Deadline for visiting students to apply for Block B1 courses (with all appropriate and required paperwork). OTR sends list of courses for Block B1 with less than 5 enrollments; departments must submit justifications for exceptions by 5/1. Otherwise, course is canceled as of 5/2.
    • Monday, May 6: Summer Block A1 (3 Week Block) Begins. Summer Block B1 (7 Week Block) Begins. Deadline for visiting students to apply for Block C1 courses (with all appropriate and required paperwork). OTR sends list of courses for Block C1 with less than 5 enrollments; departments must submit justifications for exceptions by 5/8. Otherwise, course is canceled as of 5/9.
    • Monday, May 13: Summer Block C1 (6 Week Block) Begins.
    • Monday, May 20: Deadline for visiting students to apply for Block D1 courses (with all appropriate and required paperwork). OTR sends list of courses for Block D1 with less than 5 enrollments; departments must submit justifications for exceptions by 5/22. Otherwise, course is canceled as of 5/23.
    • Tuesday, May 28: Summer Block D1 (10 Week Block) Begins. (Begins on 5/28 due to Memorial Day.)
    • Monday, June 3: Deadline for visiting students to apply for Block E1 courses (with all appropriate and required paperwork). OTR sends list of courses for Block E1 with less than 5 enrollments; departments must submit justifications for exceptions by 5/29. Otherwise, course is canceled as of 5/30.
    • Monday, June 10: Summer Block E1 (7 Week Block) Begins.
    • Monday, June 17: Deadline for visiting students to apply for Block B2 courses (with all appropriate and required paperwork). OTR sends list of courses for Block B2 with less than 5 enrollments; departments must submit justifications for exceptions by 6/19. Otherwise, course is canceled as of 6/20.
    • Monday, June 24: Summer Block B2 (7 Week Block) Begins. Deadline for visiting students to apply for Block C2 courses (with all appropriate and required paperwork). OTR sends list of courses for Block C2 with less than 5 enrollments; departments must submit justifications for exceptions by 6/26. Otherwise, course is canceled as of 6/27.
    • Monday, July 1: Summer Block C2 Begins.

    Course Schedule / How to Offer a Course This Summer

    In order to offer a course online in Summer 2024 (or any semester), you will need to have the course updated at the Course Catalog level before placing it on the Course Schedule.

    Course Catalog

    If a course does not appear in the Course Catalog yet, it will need to be added through the Course Creation process.

    Additionally, if you plan to offer a course online that has not already been approved to be offered online, you will need to have that approved at the catalog level prior to placing it on the schedule due to Rice Policy 846 (https://policy.rice.edu/846).

    The current steps are as follows:

    1. Work with Rice Online to formulate a plan for course development
    2. Submit a course change in CourseLeaf CIM

    If you have already gone through the above steps for a specific course, you do not need to go through them again; rather, you can move on to the Course Schedule component below. If you have questions on whether or not you have gone through them for a specific course, please inquire with Shawn Miller (shawn.miller@rice.edu).

    Course Schedule

    Once a course has been approved through the CourseLeaf CIM workflow steps to be offered online, it will be available to schedule online for a summer block. Your department scheduler can place the course on the Course Schedule into one of the following sessions by submitting the request through CourseLeaf CLSS.

    Course Schedule Emails from OTR

    Course Schedule FAQs

    Are there standard meeting time blocks for the summer?

    OTR has created suggested meeting time blocks, which are available here. These time blocks have been created with the idea that certain populations of students will have afternoon commitments, so the majority of time blocks will be before noon or in the evening. You are not required to use those meeting times.

    What if I don't like the standard meeting time blocks and want to use a different one?

    If you wish to use a time block other than the ones provided, you should ensure that adequate contact time is being met. OTR will review the meeting time supplied and may request additional information if the meeting time provided does not meet the expected contact time. These contact times below take into account any university holidays during the block. A three credit hour course will normally have 2100 minutes of contact time.

    Summer Block A1 (May 2 - May 24) - 3 Weeks

    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 5 days a week: 140 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 4 days a week: 175 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 3 days a week: 235 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 2 days a week: 350 minutes per meeting

    Summer Block C1 (May 13 - June 21) - 6 Weeks

    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 5 days a week: 75 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 4 days a week: 100 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 3 days a week: 135 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 2 days a week on MW: 210 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 2 days a week on TTh: 175 minutes per meeting

    Summer Block C2 (July 1 - August 9) - 6 Weeks

    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 5 days a week: 75 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 4 days a week: 100 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 3 days a week: 125 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 2 days a week: 195 minutes per meeting

    Summer Block B1 (May 6 - June 21) - 7 Weeks

    • 3 Credit Hour classes meeting 5 days a week: 65 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 4 days a week: 85 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 3 days a week: 115 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 2 days a week on MW: 175 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 2 days a week on TTh: 150 minutes per meeting

    Summer Block B2 (June 24 - August 9) - 7 Weeks

    • 3 Credit Hour classes meeting 5 days a week: 65 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 4 days a week: 85 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 3 days a week: 105 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 2 days a week: 165 minutes per meeting

    Summer Block E1 (June 10 - July 26) - 7 Weeks

    • 3 Credit Hour classes meeting 5 days a week: 70 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 4 days a week: 85 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 3 days a week: 115 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 2 days a week: 165 minutes per meeting

    Summer Block D1 (May 30 - August 4) - 10 Weeks

    • 3 Credit Hour classes meeting 5 days a week: 50 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 4 days a week: 60 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 3 days a week: 80 minutes per meeting
    • 3 Credit Hour Classes meeting 2 days a week: 120 minutes per meeting

    Undergraduate Research/Internship Courses

    Rice students participating in organized summer undergraduate research/internship programs for credit are not charged tuition, up to 3 credit hours for each course type. In order for a course to count toward this program, the course must be an existing eligible research/internship course, and if an internship, be a domestic internship. (Internship courses that include international travel are not eligible for the waiver.) The OTR will verify with the appropriate entities that the course is eligible to be offered tuition-free. Student eligibility criteria for these courses is available at Summer Tuition and Fees.

    Student Registration Procedures

    Student registration procedures are available on the student Summer Sessions page.

    Student Eligibility Criteria

    At this time, the summer program is an opportunity for currently enrolled Rice students, and visiting students from other institutions including recent high school graduates, to take college coursework for credit.

    Tuition and Fees

    Tuition and fee information is available on the Cashier's website.

    Additional Information

    If you have additional questions regarding the Summer Sessions, please email us at registrar@rice.edu or call us at 713-348-4999.