Abstract
Abstract
Online winter intersession courses have become an increasingly important strategy for universities seeking to support accelerated student progression while generating incremental tuition revenue. This study examines ten years of winter intersession enrollment data from a public, master’s-level comprehensive university in the Midwestern United States to identify course characteristics associated with higher student enrollment. Using 12,520 individual enrollment records, the analysis focuses on course type (general education versus major requirement), course classification (lower level, upper level, blended undergraduate/graduate, and graduate), and course discipline. A series of ANOVAs and Bonferroni post-hoc tests reveal significant differences in enrollment across these dimensions, with interactive effects explaining 10.5% of enrollment variance. Results indicate that lower-level courses, general education offerings, and non-STEM disciplines—particularly in business, health sciences, and humanities and social sciences—consistently attract higher enrollments, while major-specific STEM courses exhibit significantly lower demand in the compressed intersession format. The findings provide actionable guidance for institutions seeking to optimize winter intersession course portfolios, balance instructional costs with enrollment demand, and align short-term course offerings with student preferences and institutional financial objectives.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
McMillan, Heather S. and McAllister, Charles D.
(2025)
"Maximizing Online Intersession Enrollment through Targeted Course Offerings,"
Journal of the North American Management Society: Vol. 14:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/jnams/vol14/iss2/4
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