Arkansas State University - Newport

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September 2021

School introduces new way to speed through college

By Bradley Brewer with Region 8 News

NEWPORT, Ark. (KAIT) - College is a long and strenuous process, but ASU-Newport is taking much of the commitment of full semesters away with fast terms.

“Because we know that not everybody is ready to start school in August and end in December,” said Ashley Buchman, vice-chancellor of student affairs.

On Monday, ASU-Newport began its second-ever fast term. A four-week class structure that compresses content and credits from an entire semester to just a month-long period giving students more starting points in their college career.

“You don’t have to wait until spring!” Buchman said. “You can start now. So the courses we’re offering in our fast terms, they’re online. So you can work and whatever responsibilities you have, you can still do that but you can still take classes.”

ASU-Newport isn’t the first school to use this idea, as one nursing student used a similar program at another school while juggling having a job and family.

“When you’re older and you have a job that you’re really into and you have a family that you’ve started, then it’s easier to fit it into a schedule that you already have established,” said Mercedes Magness, a nursing student at ASU-Newport.

Magness said pre-requisites for nursing school usually take years of a strict schedule to complete, but fast terms allowed her to start earlier and go faster.

“I like the fast track courses because in the event that something life changing happens and you want to go back to school, you don’t have to wait the whole semester,” Magness said. “I like fast track courses because I’m a fast paced person anyways and I like to get in and get it done. And you have that option with these.”

There are two more fast terms set for this year, beginning in the second week of October and November, and the school hopes to see the huge interest from students carry on into 2022.