Otterbein University prepares the campus for the very first J-term in the school’s history. Although plenty of changes are expected, J-term is to be treated as any other term.
Housing
The housing for J-term will be treated like fall and spring semesters. Laura Farley, the administrative assistant of Resident Life, said that for J-term, students will be staying in the same rooms that they live in during the rest of the school year.
Those students who are not registered for J-term will not have access to their room or residence hall and their Cardinal Cards will not work.
All buildings on campus will be open and fully operated and maintained by the cleaning crew.
Meal Plans
One big change that Otterbein made during this school year is that meal swipes will now roll over into J-term.
All students that have a full meal plan for fall and spring semester will have access to any unused meal plans, whether it be from the fall or spring meal plans.
“There is no room charge, no meal charge, no tuition charge,” Farley said.
“In the years past, all meals have wiped out at the end of every quarter, but now everything is going to roll over into J-term and spring. It will, however, wipe out at the end of the school year,” she said.
A couple of food options will be available to students throughout J-term.
Breakfast will be available in the OtterDen while lunch and dinner will be served at the Cardinal’s Nest, according to Will Armstead, the general manager of Bon Appétit.
Enrollment
The only visible difference for students who are enrolled in J-term is the fact that there will be fewer students on campus.
A lot of students are enrolled in internships and study abroad courses that will also count for J-term credit. However, those students will not be on campus.
Although the campus will not be seeing as many students as it does during fall and spring, almost half of the current student population is enrolled in J-term courses.
About 1,100 students are currently enrolled in J-term courses and 750 of them are living in residence halls, according to Don Foster, the registrar.
However, J-term’s original purpose was different.
“J-term was originally intended to be travel courses and special courses that weren’t usually offered in the fall and spring, but we ended up offering regular courses,” Foster said.
Seven overseas study abroad programs are offered during the term, including places such as Japan, Chile, Trinidad and England.
Almost 100 students will be taking travel courses throughout J-term.
“I don’t know what the plan is for the future, if we are planning to continue offering regular courses for J-term or go back to the original plan and offer travel courses, special courses for unique types of study situations,” Foster said.
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