University Communications 

New Initiatives Designed to Help Students Stay in School

    WEST PLAINS, Mo. – As the cost of gasoline, food and almost everything else continues to rise, students at Missouri State University-West Plains are finding it harder to make ends meet while staying in school.  University officials hope some new initiatives, coupled with other opportunities already in place, will help students close the financial gap.
    “We are constantly trying to offer educational opportunities at the lowest possible cost to our students,” Chancellor Drew Bennett said.  “This is one reason why we did not raise course fees for the second year in a row.  Since almost half of our students commute, we have always been concerned about the price of gas.  In fact, because of cost and time involved in driving to campus last year, we scheduled our classes to focus on a Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday format.  This structure, along with our numerous distance learning courses, allows most students to take a full course load while only having to come to campus two days a week instead of five.”
    The new schedule format proved to be so popular with students this past academic year that university officials have made it a permanent fixture on campus.  The fall 2008 schedule offers a majority of classes in the two-day-per-week sessions, in addition to a few block classes and Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes.  Classes also have a common start time at 90 minute intervals to lessen the chance of overlapping.
    Beginning this fall, students interested in pursuing the Associate of Arts in General Studies degree also have the option of enrolling in a new evening schedule.  This new initiative creates a routinized schedule of courses between 4 and 10 p.m. that will lead toward completion of the degree in a doable time frame.  Currently, 36 evening courses are scheduled for the fall semester and 34 for the spring 2009 semester.
    In addition, Missouri State-West Plains offers a growing list of online courses that can be completed anywhere in the world at any time of the day.  Currently, there are 50 online courses planned for the fall 2008 semester, compared to 45 in fall 2007.  These, too, have proven to be very popular with students.  Enrollment figures show the number of students registering for at least one online course and the number of credit hours they take online continue to grow.  For example, the number of students has grown from 342 in spring 2006 to 523 in spring 2008, and the number of credit hours taken has jumped from 1,432 in spring 2006 to 2,287 in spring 2008.
    Missouri State-West Plains also offers classes at extended campuses in Houston and Mountain Grove.  Students can complete the entire Associate of Arts in General Studies degree at the Mountain Grove Campus, and a routinized schedule of courses has been created for the Houston Campus to aid students in planning their courses toward completion of a degree.
    For students who do have to travel to campus, Missouri State-West Plains has developed a blog for them to post opportunities for carpooling with other students.  Students can access the blog through the Missouri State-West Plains Web site with links on the Current Students and Student Life Web pages, or they can type http://msuwpstudentinfo.blogspot.com/ in their Web browser to reach the blog.
    Officials with the Student Government Association also have purchased a community bulletin board that will be placed in the lobby of the Lybyer Technology Center.  Students can post carpooling information or other information, such as “Rooms for Rent” or “Roommate Needed” requests, said Rogers Taylor, coordinator of Student Life and Development.