MEREDITH ANDERSON | senior staff writer
Effective immediately, students can now receive credit for 60 ministry and service hours in an academic year. Thirty credits remains the maximum allowed per semester or over the summer.
This new policy is retroactive and is expected to benefit 50 percent of current students, according to Director of the Office of Ministry and Service Matt Visser.
Previously, the maximum credit a student could count in a year toward the 120 credits necessary to graduate was 45.
“Theoretically you could [now] do your requirement in two years. What we are trying to do is count more of what students are doing,” Visser said.
The policy change is designed to honor the work students do on a regular basis locally and to also count service with a Focus International team, Mexico Outreach team or service-learning class.
This allows for more flexibility for students who are studying abroad, or those with intense semesters, to plan ahead.
According to the official statement, the goal is to give motivated students the option to complete the full requirement earlier in their college career so they can pursue other experiences later.
“We are hoping students are more invested as a result and have more time outside of the requirement to pursue internships and other leadership opportunities in their junior and senior years,” Visser said.
While five to 10 percent of students wait until their senior to begin or turn in their MAS hours, this is not designed to encourage procrastination but to count more of the service that students are already doing—getting the requirement done faster.
