Lindenwood is currently gearing up to change its general education requirements from approximately 51 hours to 42 beginning in the fall of 2017.

Lindenwood Provost Marilyn Abbott said that the idea has been in the works for about two years now.

The plan will be modeled after the Coordinating Board for Higher Education’s general education requirements, which has a minimum 42 hour requirement of general education classes.

“There was a faculty task force created last year that worked from the fall of 2015 to May of this year to come up with a plan to present to the faculty,” she said. “The Faculty and Dean’s Council then approved the 42-hour change.”

While the change will help all incoming students, the new requirement changes will be more attractive for transfer students, according to Abbott.

“Currently, our general education classes are very prescriptive with specific classes,” she said. “The CBHE model is more flexible. Several transfer students have different courses they’re bringing in, so sometime students feel like they’re being turned away.”

Lindenwood President Michael Shonrock said that when it comes to transfer students, the new requirements will require less time and expense overall.

“We want to make the transition for transfer students as seamless as possible,” he said.

Abbott said that the current set of requirements “doesn’t allow for creativity in courses,” and is more of a “set of boxes to be checked off.”

She also said that the new requirements will align closely with the university’s new institutional learning outcomes, and will help “effectively assess outcomes” of the change.

Shonrock said that the changes will help students get to graduation in the most efficient way possible.

“From my perspective, we want to help students get to the finish line,” he said.