As students prepare to register for the spring 2011 semester in the coming weeks, they may notice significant differences in weekly schedules.

Following in the footsteps of universities such as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Southeastern is looking to adopt a 4.5-day workweek in order to minimize costs and maximize budget potential for the upcoming semester.

By switching to a 4.5-day workweek, the university may save $100,000-150,000 on basic costs, such as those for utilities and facilities.

In accordance with the new schedule, employees will continue their 40-hour workweek and regular business hours will be maintained: Monday through Thursday  from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday, 7:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

Classes will be arranged in two-day blocks of Monday/ Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday, with class time blocks from 7 a.m. to 9:15 p.m. Friday class time blocks will begin at 11:45 a.m. and will include laboratory courses.

Planning for the shortened week has been in progress for some time, with administrative requests sent to faculty and staff to determine potential scheduling structures and possible issues early.

“They came to us a few months ago and told us to start planning for a 4- or 4.5-day workweek,” said Dr. G. Alan Cannon, mathematics professor. “After a while, it was just the 4.5-day workweek, and since then we have been preparing, working with schedules and classes. They wanted to see if we could all make it work before they decided.”

Southeastern Provost Tammy Bourg insisted that the change will be part of pilot program to see if it is as effective on Southeastern’s campus as it has been on those that have already enacted the change.

There have been concerns raised about how such a change would affect students’ scheduling and the use of facilities on campus.

“It has pros and cons from what I can see,” said Malik Harness, communication sophomore. “The pros are more study time and more work availability, but the cons are less instructional time, and regardless, tuition is still getting more expensive.”

Harness is also concerned about the quality of education that the proffered workweek will offer.

“For the more difficult classes, it means they will be pushing more material per class period in the two-day-a-week classes,” said Harness.

Budget cuts have already eliminated approximately 170 positions, and that number could grow in the upcoming year.

“We were extremely conservative with our budget for this year, and we built in plans to deal with modest mid-year cuts,” stated President John L. Crain in an Oct. 12 Hammond Daily Star article. “But if the cuts are large, it will be challenging for us and may involve some additional layoffs or furloughs.”

In an attempt to offset budget cuts, the university has already implemented a 10 percent budget increase. The tuition may continue to be raised each year until Southeastern reaches the southern regional average, as mandated by the Louisiana Granting Resources and Autonomy for Diplomas (GRAD) Act. According to Crain, these increases could continue for up to six years.

“It would be fine with me if we never had to raise tuition again, but we had to going into this year and, under the GRAD Act, it could continue to go up as long as we’re meeting the performance objectives,” stated Crain.

According to Crain, additional information regarding the changes will be made available as soon as possible, as will an updated university calendar with the completed changes and modifications.

“Right now with the way things are going, even if it can save the university a small amount of money, let’s do it,” said Cannon.