Durham Tech plans four-day week in summer

Durham, N.C. — Durham Technical Community College will close campus facilities on Fridays during the summer semester as a cost-cutting move, the school announced Wednesday.

Classes will be held Monday through Thursday from May 11 through Aug. 6, and communal areas of campus will be open 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on those days. Employees will work a four-day, 40-hour week. Instruction held outside college facilities, such as clinical instruction in hospitals, will go on as scheduled on Fridays and weekends.

The college estimates it will save at least $30,000 in utility costs with the adjusted schedule.

A four-day summer schedule will result in the cancellation or rescheduling of fewer than 10 credit courses, the college said. Last summer, the college closed at noon on Fridays.

Because the summer semester spans two fiscal years, the school expects to see savings in both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 budgets.