Registration for summer classes offered through the University of West Alabama and the Demopolis Higher Education Center (DHEC) will be held Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the DHEC, located next to the Demopolis Sports-Plex on U.S. Highway 43 South.

Some 21 classes will be offered for the summer session, including English, math, science, computer and business classes. Personnel from UWA will be on hand to help with academic advice or financial aid information.

High school or college students registering for classes need to bring a transcript, ACT score and a photo ID. Those not already admitted to UWA will need to pay a $50 admission fee.

The Summer 2010 session begins on June 1 and runs through mid-August.

“Summer semester is a smaller semester for every college, but we anticipate having a lot of high school students to take advantage of it,” said DHEC director Angelia Mance.

“I actually had an e-mail from one of my former dual enrollment students who is at Auburn, and he said, ‘I’m coming home for the summer, and I’d like to take a class while I’m home and get some credit.’ We see a lot of that in the summer. We have students who are off at from Alabama, Auburn or Troy or farther who come home and see their parents for the summer and try to pick up basics and finish them off, like a Western Civ or an American History or something like that.”

Mance said that although the registration is for summer college courses, anyone can take advantage of the summer semester to further his education. Adults and high school students alike can take classes. Courses cost $215 per credit hour.

“We are cost-competitive,” she said. “If you look at the prices per credit hour for Alabama, Auburn and Troy, we tend to be less expensive than they are.”

Continuing education classes offered include a cake-decorating class and a basic conversational Spanish class.

“The Spanish class is a non-credit course, but someone who works can come and learn basic communication skills,” Mance said. “We hope to offer it for credit later, but a lot of people who want to learn Spanish don’t want the pressure of a grade; they just want to learn the language that they can use in their everyday lives or at their jobs.”