When many people in Southern West Virginia Eastern Kentucky attend college, they are often adults, and have full lives, with families and jobs that take priority over their time. But Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College is implementing a new concept with the Fall 2010 Semester that will enable students to earn the same number of credit hours in a shorter time frame.

Starting this Fall, classes at Southern will be offered in trimesters instead of the traditional semester format.

Classes will be offered for 14 weeks instead of 16 weeks, allowing students to complete a trimester in a shorter amount of time.

While classes will be four weeks shorter, students will only spend an average of 10 extra minutes in each class since the new trimesters are condensed.

”Our students will graduate earlier in the year than those at other colleges. Southern’s graduates will be ready to enter the work force sooner as well, giving them an edge when applying for jobs," President Tomblin said.

The new trimester schedule will be advantageous for adult students, especially stay at home mothers. This fall, Southern’s classes will start after the county school systems open. Youngsters will already be in head start or elementary school, which will allow moms to enroll in college classes.

Also, classes will start after the semester begins in other traditional college settings.

Dr. Cindy McCoy, Dean for University Transfer Programs, said this would be an advantage for students who weren’t sure where they wanted to complete their post-secondary education.

If a student enrolls in classes at a university and, once they begin, realize they don’t like that, they can come back to Southern, and still be able to catch the beginning of the trimester, Dr. McCoy said.

Also, the trimester schedule may entice more university students to enroll in summer classes. By offering a full schedule during the summer, instead of the usual scaled down version, students who are home for the summer, can pick up additional classes at Southern for a fraction of the tuition cost at other colleges or universities.

Trimesters run from August 30 through December 9, 2010; January 10 through April 21 and May 9 through August 11, 2011.

For a complete course schedule, visit the colleges web site at www.southernwv.edu/trimesters.

Southern operates four campuses and two sites located in Boone, Logan, Lincoln, Mingo, Raleigh and Wyoming counties. Kentucky students residing in Pike, Martin, Boyd and Lawrence counties are eligible for in-state tuition rates.

The college’s web site is www.southernwv.edu and the toll free number is 1-866-798-2821.