Devin King | Reporter
From Print [Nov.10,2015] | Legacy
The number of credit hours required to graduate could be cut to 120 from 128, according to President Michael Shonrock, who announced the suggested change at a recent meeting of the Lindenwood Student Government Association.
A decision on the idea could come as early as Wednesday, when the university’s Board of Directors will meet again, Shonrock said at the Oct. 28 meeting.
“Nothing’s going to impact January 2016, but at some point we need to start thinking about January 2017,” Shonrock said.
Photo taken from LU Journalism Twitter account.
Reasons the topic is being discussed include the possibility of Lindenwood abandoning its J-Term program and the fact that many other undergraduate programs require only 120 credits to graduate, he said.
LSGA president Sam Rudloff said he agreed that lowering the amount of required credits should happen if Lindenwood gets rid of J-Term.
The popular condensed term in January allows students to earn 12 credits during their time at Lindenwood, which is a semester’s worth of credits, he said.
While Shonrock was the president at Emporia State, he witnessed the Kansas school lower the amount of credits to graduate to 120 from 124.
“There was an interest in getting students graduating in a timely manner,” he said.
Ilsa Dulle, a secretary of LSGA, said that she also is in favor of lowering the credit hours for graduation.
“I really like the idea of it because it will be easier for people to graduate on time,” Dulle said. “I know many people are here for five and six years, trying to graduate.”
In addition to the changes that may take place for the credit requirements and J-Term, Shonrock said there was an interest in having Lindenwood’s academic year start earlier to be more consistent with other institutions and finishing earlier to get people out into the work force sooner.
Shonrock said these changes are being considered for the benefit of students.
“Many of the disciplines have their own accreditation, so you want to be sure you meet all those types of things,” Shonrock said. “I always ask, ‘How do we get students to the finish line?’ And that finish line is across the stage at graduation.”
