Finish college at Eastern in eight semesters, or receive free tuition until you do graduate.

Sounds hard to believe, but that is just what Eastern is offering to full-time, incoming freshmen in a program called EIU4, as long as students meet the requirements.

Blair Lord, vice president for academic affairs, said there is no limit to the number of students who may be accepted to the program and anyone can apply, but freshmen majoring in 4-plus year programs such as teacher certification, engineering cooperative or environmental biology are not eligible for the program because those majors take over four years to complete by design.

Students accepted to the program work closely with EIU4 coordinator Josh Hayes to make sure they are making progress toward graduating in four years. In the program, students will receive close advising to ensure they’re getting the classes they need.

In addition, Hayes and the academic affairs office will work to make sure these students do get all the classes they need. If a class is not available, the academic affairs office will work with the respective college dean, searching for a substitute class, so students won’t miss credits towards their majors. The dean may also choose to waive the requirement or provide independent study.

In the event that a student does not graduate in eight semesters while meeting all of the program requirements because a class isn’t available, the university will provide a tuition waiver for credits taken after eight semesters.

A limit does not exist on the number of credits the university would provide a tuition waiver for, but Lord said the university will be working so closely with the students in this program that it would be hard for them not to graduate in four years.

The extensive requirements will also keep the students from needing extra semesters, he added.

Some of the requirements include officially declaring a major by the end of the first semester of college, completing at least one fourth of one’s major requirements during each academic year, being prepared to take classes toward a major without needing introductory classes, taking classes when they’re offered even if the time is undesirable, meeting with Hayes once a semester and meeting with an academic adviser before registering.

Students who fail to reach these requirements will be placed under review by Hayes and may be dropped from the program. In such a case, Hayes said he would meet with the student before dropping them, discussing ways to meet the requirements during the following semester, so students may stay in the program.

This is the first year Eastern is offering such a program, and Western Illinois University is the only other state school to offer a similar program.

Currently, the Illinois Board of Higher Education spreads around $50,000 in grant funding to schools with programs like this, Lord said.

During the past four years, Western has received all of the funding, he added.

Eastern won’t receive funding this year because the program just started, but Lord said he expects the university will receive funding for the 2004 fiscal year.

A private donor whom Lord would not name is funding the near-$50,000 program this year.

Lord said he hopes the program will help recruitment and reverse the decline in enrollment Eastern has seen the past few years.