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From: jsloan@wright.EDU (John Sloan)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Five-year plan (was What is Computer Science?)
Message-ID: <193@wright.EDU>
Date: Tue, 24-Nov-87 08:08:52 EST
Article-I.D.: wright.193
Posted: Tue Nov 24 08:08:52 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Nov-87 06:36:28 EST
References: <7925@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP>
Organization: Wright State University, Dayton OH, 45435
Lines: 41

in article <7925@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP>, stern@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP (harold a stern) says:
>>In article <191@wright.EDU> jsloan@wright.EDU (John Sloan) writes:
>>>I think most of us would agree that a five year program is a good idea.
>>>Indeed, professional engineering schools have done it, with success.
	:
> and the overwhelming opinion (myself included) was that a five-year program
> is a great idea _in theory_, but who is going to pay the extra $18K per 
> student to do it?
	:

I edited Harold's remarks for brevity. He's talking about MIT. He makes
a good point that I hadn't thought of. As a state institution in Ohio,
our tuition is not so high, hence its less of a factor, although
most of our students pay their own way and are not on scholarships.
The additional financial burden is a very real problem.

We effectively have a five year program. Few students are able to
complete the requisites in four years. The schedule is so tight that
getting knocked out of a couple of required classes because they are
closed can add several quarters to a degree, because higher level
classes cannot be offered every quarter (not enough faculty).

Also, most of our CS and CEG majors work at least part time, and a high
percentage work full time. That's our market in the area from which
we recruit. Many professionals and also Air Force types, airmen in the
undergraduate program, officers in the graduate program. Taking five
or six years to complete a B.S. is not uncommon. Took me ten years of
taking at least one class _every_ quarter (for forty quarters) to
complete a B.S. and M.S. while working full time. As you might expect,
the program bore little resemblence at the end to the one I started in.
I ended taking a lot of extra stuff just to play catchup.

Anyway, we really do have a five year program, for all intents and
purposes, and it sure would be helpful if we could just make it official
and take advantages of the scheduling windows in that extra year.

-- 
John Sloan                     Wright State University Research Center
jsloan@SPOTS.Wright.Edu       3171 Research Blvd., Kettering, OH 45420
...!cbosgd!wright!jsloan               (513) 259-1384   (513) 873-2491
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