You’re sitting in class reading the Beacon. Chances are, you arrived on campus Saturday, giving you four short days to move in, unpack, buy books, and mentally prepare for the onslaught of information from taking five new classes.

You left campus last May for a summer job back home or an internship in a big city. Perhaps you even cradled the remote control and ate potato chips all summer.

Your life continued outside of the university’s small borders during the summer, but life didn’t stop here on campus and in the world when classes ended in May.

So we’ve compiled somewhat of a summer-in-review list for those of you who didn’t hang around for summer school.

1. Tuition. Yes, it’s true. In July, this fall’s tuition was raised by 8 percentDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq for in-state and out-of-state undergraduate students.

It doesn’t paint a pretty financial picture for those of us who started school here three years ago. We’ve seen one tuition increase after another to make up for the university’s suffering budget and lack of state funding.

But undergraduate students can’t whine as much as law and veterinary medicine students, who saw a 15 percent increaseDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq, and medical, dentistry and pharmacy students who saw a 10 percentDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq increase.

And on top of the 8 percent, engineering students have increased fees for their class materials.

Whew. Where are the money-tree seeds when you need them?

2. When a door shuts, a window opens. Tuition increases and some state allocations have provided budget boosts for all the Chattanooga, Martin and Knoxville campuses.

We got the biggest boost, with a $3.7 millionDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq chunk for much-needed salary increases for faculty and $1 millionDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq for operating costs.

The money gave the university its first major salary increase in almost a decade, making professors smile and administrators breathe a small sigh of relief.

3. The never-ending ESPN investigation. Last year, ESPN began an investigation of the Athletic Department for possible NCAA tutoring violations.

The investigation was dropped and the university cleared, but investigators were back on campus this summer, prompted by English professor Linda Bensel-Meyers’Dorie Turner 08.22.00 cq claims that athletes have received more than a little help with their academic work.

The outcome is yet to be seen and we’re not sure if the conflict will ever be resolved.

4. The UT information highway. The university introduced Circle Park OnlineDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq, featuring registration, tuition payments, and schedule printouts on the Internet.

It may have caused some server back-ups when students lit on campus Saturday, but it had made scheduling classes and paying tuition just a click away.

5. Consolidation and renovation. In July, the UT Bowld HospitalDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq in Memphis signed an agreement with Baptist Memorial HospitalDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq and the Regional Medical CenterDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq to combine the three hospitals into one large, state-run entity.

We’re positive there are quite a few drawbacks to this idea, as well as definite strengths, but the deal is so new that the pluses and minuses have yet to be determined.

The Health Sciences CenterDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq in Memphis is losing a good deal of faculty, but the new consolidation promises to solve some of the faculty shortages.

6. Campus facelift. You might have noticed the new Burchfiel Geography BuildingDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq in front of the Hill across from the University Center.

After a year’s construction and a lot of headache, it’s done and set for a grand opening sometime in August.

Claxton Education BuildingDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq is almost done and while the exact date is not known, the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight.

7. 867-5309. The university is working on a deal with Cricket CommunicationsDorie Turner 08.22.00 cq, giving students the opportunity to buy cell phones with on-campus calling plans.

The university says it has signed no paperwork yet, but there is an abundance of Cricket salesmen on campus, as well as a number of cellular towers appearing around campus.

There you have it folks. We might not have included everything, but these were definitely the high (or low, as the case may be) points of the summer.