Colleges spend millions to switch to semesters

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Seventeen Ohio universities and community colleges are ready to become semester-based schools, ending decades of colliding calendars among the state’s 37-member higher education system.

But the effort, which has taken years and millions of dollars to complete, is not universally liked by students, many of whom feel they will be caught in the middle during the transition.

Preparing for the change, which begins with fall classes in August, has cost the schools more than $26 million in the past four years. The state did not allocate extra money to pay for needed technology upgrades or thousands of hours of staff time to revise curriculum.

“It’s been, I think, a really tremendous effort, and a tremendous effort during very difficult economic times in the state of Ohio,” said Wright State President David Hopkins. “We came together and agreed it was time for us to do this and do it together.”

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