With winter break just longer than a month, many students will use the time away not as a break from school, but as a chance to get some extra credits completed.

Winterim classes run Jan. 2-17, and though priority registration ended Oct. 25, students can sign up for classes until Dec. 27, said Jan Morse, administrative officer in academic affairs.

Priority registration is designed to give the registrar’s office a chance to examine course enrollment to see whether it’s necessary to eliminate a course. Three Winterim courses have been cut so far, Morse said.

“That number is below normal,” she said. “Usually we have to cut seven to nine courses.”

While the number of classes that have been cut is down from last year, Winterim enrollment is about the same, Morse said.

Last year, 1,250 students enrolled in Winterim. As of last week, about 1,000 had registered this year, but Morse said the two numbers aren’t a good comparison.

“There’s usually a spurt in the last couple of weeks,” Morse said. “Students wait as long as they can to register.”

One student who is waiting to register is senior Mike Myrland. He said he is thinking about taking a class during Winterim to get closer to graduating next December.

One thing that is making Myrland hesitate about taking a Winterim class is the class schedule. The class, Art of the 20th Century, meets three hours a day, six days a week.

“That’s why I’m hesitating,” Myrland said. “But, it’s only a few weeks, and I would get three credits for it.”

Myrland has never taken a Winterim class before, but said he isn’t worried about it being cut because he knows a lot of other people who are interested in it.

One negative thing about waiting to sign up for Winterim is the possibility of a class being full or having the class dropped, Morse said.

“Waiting too long to register puts students’ schedules in a bind,” Morse said. If a student registers for next spring with the assumption of completing a Winterim course, the student could be in trouble if the class is the canceled, Morse said.

Despite the stress on having students register early, Morse said she doesn’t think any more Winterim classes will have to be cut. If classes have to be cut, Morse said the students will be notified immediately.

“When a class is cut, students who signed up for it are notified the very next day,” she said.

The Winterim session can be an important tool for students, Morse said.

“We just want to give students something to think about,” Morse said. “We want to make them aware that they have winterim as an option.”