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The impact and consequences of quarter to Semester conversion

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By Austin Murray, Jonathan Cadena, & Jacob Russell

To alleviate confusion about the upcoming 2020 Q2S change, faculty and staff have been leading an information campaign but some students are confused.

Banners and posters have popped up around campus inviting students to information sessions and urging them to see an academic counselor. Yet some students are still unsure how the conversion will affect them.

“I’m just worried about how this will affect my graduation track,” said 1st year English major Dominique.

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One area that might be affected by the conversion change is the financial aid disbursement. Students will now have to budget their money for 15 weeks instead of 10. This is one of the consequences that students will have to adjust to.

 

Advisors are urging students to come see them and talk about how the change might affect them. Dean of Undergraduates Craig Seal said it is important for students to talk to their counselors and figure out a plan for the semester conversion.

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It is estimated there are around 1,500 transfer students coming from a Community College that were on the semester system. CSUSB has over 20,000 students, so a large portion of students are not used to semesters.

“Coming from a community college on a semester system, I believe the quarter system is better, I feel like I can retain the information better because it’s more constant, I think it’s easier to get a little off track on semesters,” said John Sanchez.

In addition to Q2S events and advising there are several tools online to help students navigate the change. Paws report with semesters are now live and, students can map out what their semesters will look like with MyCap.

Dean Craig Seal and Program Director Grace King look over their plans for the day.

“We have built all these tools to help students in the transition,” said Grace King who is the project director overseeing the conversion.

When students check their paws report and MyCap there will be an option to convert your classes in the future to semester and plan accordingly. These online features are designed for the students to go into the new semester with more information about their courses. 

“I was completely unaware that there was a lot of information online about the conversion, I’ve seen the posters but never really checked them out,” said Kevin Aguilar a 4th year English Major.

Faculty and staff will be challenged just like the students.

“I came from a Semester school prior [to coming to] CSUSB, and it’s like starting a new job, faculty that have been here a long time, it will be like starting a new job due to not only converting to semesters but changes to the curriculum,” said Seal.

Flyers are all over campus inviting students to an information session.

This change doesn’t just affect students but faculty as well. Faculty will have to adjust their lesson plans to accommodate the change from 10 weeks to 15.  The change will be part of a revamped curriculum that is more in-depth.

“Going from the 10 weeks to 15, I will have to add more material and potentially allow students to do more than before,” professor Joel Harris said.

The quarter to semester change has been taking place all around the CSU system. CSUSB is changing because they want to align with other schools and have a more rigorous curriculum. Despite all the confusion and inconvenience to students who are going in there last year, the school has made a promise to honor everyone’s units and provide a similar semester track.

“We made a promise to students that if you were supposed to graduate at a certain time we will honor that,” said Seal.

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