Changes: Quarter Calendar to Semester System
Fall 1998
KSU will convert from the Quarter Calendar to the Semester System beginning with the Fall Term of 1998. The program of study for International Affairs has been revised to meet the new schedule. You will find in this handbook both the program of study for the Quarter Calendar and the Semester System. A set of equivalent sheets are also included - one with translations from quarter to semester, and the other from semester to quarter.
KSU's No Penalties Pledge
The most important message that KSU is sending to students about the transition to semesters is that you will not be penalized by the conversion.
- You will not lose credit for any of the courses you have taken. The quarter hours that you have earned will be converted to semester hours and counted in your degree requirements.
- For students who enrolled before Fall, 1998, old and new program requirements will be mixed and adjusted flexibly across different catalogs to avoid any loss of credit or progress toward degree completion.
- You will not be required to take additional courses. In fact, in many instances, the number of required hours for your degree will be reduced after Fall, 1998, saving you time and money.
- Your graduation date will not be delayed if you continue accumulating hours at your current rate. It may even be sooner than you expected.
- Your annual tuition and fees will not cost you more money. The total cost for two 15-week semesters will be equal to the cost of three 10-week quarters.
The second most important message to students is that we will do everything in our power to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Semester Calendar
Each year will be divided into two 15-week semesters (plus exams) and a Summer Term of approximately eight weeks. Fall Semester will begin in mid-August and end in mid-December. Spring Semester will begin in early January and end in early May. Summer Term will run from the end of May to the end of July with 4-week as well as 8-week courses.
A Semester Course
The typical quarter-system course carries 5 quarter hours of credit and meets in class for approximately 4-1/2 hours per week (or 45 hours in class per 10-week quarter). The typical semester-system course carries 3 semester hours of credit and meets in class for approximately 2-1/2 hours per week (or 37.5 hours in class per 15-week semester). Since the weekly class time required for a 3-credit semester course is almost half the amount required for a 5-credit quarter course, you can, and should, easily take more semester hours each week than you took under the quarter system. In fact, you will need to take as many hours of classes each week under a semester system as you did under the quarter system if you plan to graduate by the same date.
Semester Course Load
Full-time status as an undergraduate will still be 12 or more credit hours per semester and the average load will still be 15. The difference will be that most semester courses give 3 hours of credit instead of 5. If you are a full-time student, you will take 5 three-semester-hour courses for 15 hours of credit, instead of the 3 five-quarter-hour courses. Part-time undergraduate students will take 6 to 9 credit hours of classes instead of 5 to 10. For graduate students, full-time status will be 9 hours or more. In the Summer Term, a full-time undergraduate load is expected to be 9 semester hours or more, and a full-time graduate load will be 6 semester hours or more.
Semester Class Schedule
Classes during the Fall or Spring Semester will meet either twice a week (75 minutes per class) or once a week (150 minutes per class with a 15-minute break). This schedule will allow for more flexibility and convenience. For example, twice-a-week semester classes will be offered on Monday-Wednesday (MW), Tuesday-Thursday (TTh), Friday-Saturday (FSa), And Saturday-Sunday (SaSu); once-a-week classes will be offered every day of the week. In addition, evening classes will begin at 5:00 and allow for as many as four twice-a-week classes each night. The University may also offer some courses in a 8-week format during the Fall and Spring Semesters.
A Four-Year Degree
One positive result of semester conversion is that the total number of credits required for a baccalaureate degree is being reduced and streamlined to permit a full-time student to complete a four-year degree in 4 years (or less if attending Summer Terms, getting advanced placement credit, and/or carrying extra course loads each semester). A student who takes an average of 15-17 credit hours of required courses per semester for 8 semesters (excluding summers) should be able to complete any bachelor's degree program at KSU in four years.
Student Classification
Class status will be determined according to the following range of semester hours:
- Freshman = 0-29
- Sophomore = 30-59
- Junior = 60-89
- Senior = 90 and above