As they prepare to reopen the college in fall 2011, Antioch officials are considering a new academic calendar in which students could earn a 120-credit undergraduate degree in three calendar years, including summers.
“We do not believe that liberal arts colleges can sustain an economic model that requires families to pay or finance a $50,000-plus educational experience for four years,” said Matthew Derr, the college’s chief transition officer.
Reducing the cost of a college education by one year, or 25 percent, could make Antioch more accessible to students, Derr said.
Antioch became a new, independent college on Sept. 4 in a ceremony that transferred its historic campus and other assets from Antioch University, which operates five other campuses in four states. The college closed in June 2008 because of declining enrollment and other issues.
“The problem for the college was its business model, not the attractiveness of its program,” Derr said.
The idea of a three-year undergraduate degree has been discussed but never tried in the U.S., according to Richard Detweiler, president of the Great Lakes Colleges Association.
Antioch, one of 13 Midwest liberal arts colleges that constitute the GLCA, could benefit from its “clean slate,” he said.
“It really gives them the opportunity to very seriously do a three-year, year-round degree,” Detweiler said. “I really think the time is right for that idea to come forward.”
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