Ellen Truxaw ‘09 drags herself out of bed at the sound of her 7 a.m. alarm every weekday during the summer. She rubs her eyes, remembering that she has been awake until 2 a.m. because of her job as a High School Summer College mentor.

Her physics lecture doesn’t start until 8:30, but the trip to class is more difficult than a bike ride to the Quad. Ellen has to make the minimum half-hour commute from Stanford to Santa Clara University (SCU). Her first thought when she wakes up, even before she begins frantically studying for quizzes: coffee.

“I have to have caffeine or I’m going to pass out,” she said.

For $230 a unit, non-enrolled students like Ellen can take summer classes at SCU, with a 15-unit course load totaling $3,450. A comparable number of units at Stanford adds up to $10,998. The $7,548 Ellen saves in tuition by commuting to SCU was the prime reason for her summer school switch.

“My main motivation was financial, but I had also heard a lot of good things about Santa Clara,” she said. “My parents really didn’t want to pay for anything. There was no way I could pay for physics here. I could pay mostly for Santa Clara, and my parents are paying the $500 difference.”

Though 1,021 Stanford undergraduates take advantage of the 100-plus Stanford classes in 30 departments available over the summer, the price of summer tuition sends many students scattering to other schools. And due to the high price of enrollment, summer courses at Stanford are next-to-impossible for students who typically receive financial aid.

The Financial Aid Office (FAO) offers limited funding for matriculated students. Director of Financial Aid Karen Cooper reported that approximately 30 students were offered summer loans, while 20 were offered scholarship funds. Students who traditionally receive scholarships from Stanford are not necessarily eligible — only students facing special circumstances, such as needing an extra quarter to graduate, received grants.

Cooper admitted that students on financial aid are at a disadvantage when it comes to taking summer courses at Stanford because of the price of admission. Though she was sympathetic, she said that she championed other alternatives to studying at Stanford.

“I do know many financial aid students take one class at home for a less expensive option and seem to manage that without significant impact,” she said. “They’re able to work and earn some money.”

Cooper said that she does not foresee a change of plans in the FAO’s philosophy towards students’ financial aid because the FAO expects students to use that time for work and research.

“For students enrolled we do have a summer earnings expectation,” she said. “We expect them to earn at least $2,100. We’re not encouraging students to attend Stanford in the summer because we want them to earn money.”

Nonetheless, Director of Summer Programs Patricia Brandt lamented Stanford’s loss of financial aid recipients in its summer courses.

“I don’t really see any reason why [financial aid] shouldn’t be available during the summer,” she said. “It’s difficult to take anything outside your major. It’s very nice if you can come during the summer and take some electives.”

Despite the economic constraints on both students receiving financial aid and students whose parents are not willing to shell out almost $11,000 in summer tuition, hundreds of families are willing to make the sacrifice. Along with 1,021 undergraduates, nearly 400 high school students take summer classes, most of whom participate in the residential High School Summer College Program.

According to Brandt, high school students are slightly more fortunate than their undergraduate counterparts when it comes to summer finances.

“They get small grants, moderate scholarships,” she said. “Nobody gets a full scholarship. For them, it’s to show that they can do the work and to help with their college admissions.”

Brandt said that 2007 also serves as the pilot year for the Stanford Summer International Honors Program, which brings 10 students from universities in Mexico to Stanford for the summer and provides them with special programming.

Additionally, 193 undergraduates from other schools make the journey to Stanford for the summer. For many of these students and their families, summer at Stanford was worth the high price tag.

David Anderson, a two-time summer student and a rising junior at UC-Irvine, said that his parents were willing to foot the housing bill and tuition because he loved Stanford so much.

“The first time I came here, I did it because I initially wanted to go to Stanford, and I knew about their engineering program,” he said. “The second time I came back because it was just such a good experience the first time. I was going to take a class again by the same professor and I met a bunch of great people.”

University of Wisconsin-Madison rising sophomore Kaitlin Murphy came to Stanford for the summer because of the University’s strong biology program. Though Murphy initially chose a state school over Stanford because of the cheaper tuition, she said a summer at Stanford was worth the money.

“I wanted to come here originally, but the University of Wisconsin has in-state tuition so it made much more sense,” she said. “But the tuition is costing me the same amount to be here as it is for the entire year at home. My parents agreed they would pay for it. I have to pay them back.”

Stanford undergraduate Emily Hsi ‘09 also noted that taking summer courses elsewhere or doing an internship instead of staying at Stanford are options that have their own opportunity cost for Stanford students. She said that she appreciates the greater challenge of Stanford courses, along with the dorm atmosphere on campus.

Hsi added that staying at Stanford to take classes reduces the academic stress students face during the regular school year.

“I think it loads off a lot of stress during the year and probably is a better investment of time than doing a summer internship,” she said. “Then, you can take a lighter load during the year and focus on recruiting. It is worth it if you think of the stress you relieve.”

Elisa Nasol ‘09 agreed that taking summer courses freed up her other three quarters. Nasol said that she wanted to take physics during the summer to fill pre-med requirements and use her other time at Stanford to take upper-division Human Biology classes.

But Nasol decided that SCU was a better option for her summer study.

“So if I’m not going to transfer the units, I might as well take it at Santa Clara where it’s cheaper,” she said. “It’s closer to my home, and it’s almost on the same caliber as Stanford.”

In the end, Ellen Truxaw also found motivations other than financial ones for taking physics at SCU. Truxaw said that she will get transfer credit equivalent to the Physics 20 series for a summer’s worth of intensive work.

“Santa Clara has a reputation of being a really great place to learn physics,” she said. “It’s supposed to be a little bit more laid back, and the professor is supposed to be really good. It’s a class of about 90 percent Stanford students for half the price.”