February 9, 1995: Vol26n16: Reducing semester hours could speed graduation from UB

By CHRIS SHEA
Reporter Contributor
In order to help students graduate quicker, the FSEC's Educational
Programs and Policies Committee (EPPC) recommended Feb.1 that the
minimum semester hours required for graduation be reduced from the
current level of 128 to 120 beginning with first-year students
entering UB in the fall of 1995.
	Professor Michael Metzger, chairperson of the EPPC, reporting
to the FSEC, said the reduction of semester hours would apply to
students graduating with a B.A., B.S., or B.P.S. degree. He said
allowing students to graduate quicker would increase UB's
accessibility to others.
	Metzger also noted that 120 semester hours was the minimum
requirement for graduation at other SUNY schools such as Albany and
Stony Brook, at a number of private universities in New York, such as
Cornell and NYU, and at other large state universities, such as
California-Berkeley, Indiana and North Carolina-Chapel Hill. One
hundred and twenty semester hours is also the minimum level a college
or university in the SUNY system may require for graduation.