Students have until 5 p.m. Friday to add more hours to their schedules.

The University created second eight-week courses — half semester classes that vary from required to special interest courses — precisely so that students could add more hours, associate provost Ruth Watkins said.

"Primarily, the courses are designed to meet the needs of the students," she added.

If a student discovered they must drop a class, the second eight-week courses give the student an option to add another course in order to maintain full-time status.

Department of Leisure Studies academic advisor Ryan Gower said the second eight-week classes are provided in his department to give scheduling flexibility.

Leisure studies provides classes that cover the introductory concepts of leisure services and ethical issues in sports management.

Robert Graves, head of the theater department, said the department's second eight- eek classes are meant to alternate between groups of students because of a lack of classroom space to handle larger groups.

This semester, the department is offering classes in scenecraft, costumes, graphic skills and stage lighting.

But, many classes are not easily available to students who are looking to add hours at the last minute.

Classes in subjects such as physics, MBA and general and mechanical engineering have prerequisite classes, require students to have a specific major, or are at an advanced level.

For instance, students who want to take MBA 402: Designing and Managing Business Processes need to have taken MBA 401: Foundations of Business, which in turn requires enrollment in the MBA program or consent of the Dean of the College of Business.

Even classes without prerequisites might not be easy to get into at the last minute.

Graves said he is not aware of any non-theater majors in the second eight-week courses, which give priority to theater majors since the courses are required for their curriculum.

Gower pointed out that in leisure studies, classes tend to fill up quickly with leisure studies majors and people who have a legitimate interest in the course.

Watkins said the second eight-week courses should not be affected by the budget cutbacks.

"To my knowledge, there have been no cutbacks in the classes," Watkins said. "And there is no reason to believe there would be."