While many West Virginia University students will be soaking up some sun at the beach or local pools over the summer, several thousand others will be dipping into geology, economics, ceramics and even whitewater rafting while soaking up a variety of summer courses being offered in Morgantown.

Summer Session I begins Tuesday, May 21, and continues through June 28.

Its not too late for students to register for core courses, including those in agriculture and forestry, arts and sciences, business, engineering, journalism and other fields, officials say. Students have until May 24 to register. Taking summer classes comes with many benefitsgraduating early, studying abroad or catching up on coursework. Several summer classes also allow students to take classes on the web from home.

“Summer classes are a great way for students to get into some of the more popular classes on campus,”said Lynn Reinke, program coordinator with the Office of Extended Learning.

According to the listings on the WVU course website, many classes for the first summer session are still open including math, geography, psychology and political science.

And if you cant make the first session, Summer Session II begins July 1st and runs through Aug. 8.

About 10,000 students attend WVU each summer.

Students can register online by visitinghttp://star.wvu.eduor by phone by calling 293-2892 or 1-888-988-4487. Web and phone registration will operate each week from 7 a.m. Monday through 11 p.m. Saturday.

For more information about summer courses, call Admissions and Records at 304-293-2892 or visit A&Rs course schedule web site athttp://www.arc.wvu.edu/courses/orhttp://www.wvu.edu/~summer/.