Apologies in advance that this is a topic not of football nature, but since this is football season it will get the most eyeballs here. I was talking with a friend this weekend, sharing some college stories and thought of a question I have long had but had never come up with a satisfying answer for regarding Ohio University.

While a student at Ohio we were still on the quarter system and all four years we had a lengthy holiday break after the fall quarter, stretching from a few days before Thanksgiving until after New Year's Day (as I am sure many others on here did too). Explained this reality as a tour guide countless times and enjoyed the opportunity to make some extra cash working during the holiday season.

But why was the academic calendar arranged this way? I had heard some explanations, with one of it was to save on coal costs when the university was primarily directly heated this way.

I am sure within the vast knowledge base of Bobcat Attack I will finally get an accurate answer!

I had recently graduated when the long break was instituted. As stated, it was to save on energy costs. But I wonder if football was a factor. Three or four games before your students get to campus probably caused some very poor attendance numbers!

I enjoyed the quarter schedule that didn't have the long break.

Getting to Athens the third week of September allowed for some awesome vacation time in one of the finest weather months of the year. I tramped around NYC for two weeks on two different Septembers back in the 70's.

I unloaded planes at DHL during the winter break. Shift started at 9pm. Not fun haha.

But one nice thing is we were in Athens through May and into early June. It really made the fest season better, as they happened during warm weather. And the girls on South Beach were the cherry on top.

Paying my way through college, it's likely I wouldn't have made it through school without those 6-8 weeks of work. I'd work two jobs to stockpile enough money to get through the rest of the school year.

Still remember girls playing volleyball in the street in front of GAM and going down to Strouds Run.

Science major here (Biological Sciences), I LOVED quarters. I can't really say whether or not it made the class harder, but I don't really think it did. For one thing, most of our classes didn't do "A midterm", rather having 2 exams + the final (or in a few cases 3 non-comprehensive exams + 1 comprehensive final) was the norm. I did appreciate the flexibility of being able to take a quarter here or there of part of the course catalog that I wouldn't have taken if i'd had to commit a half a year to it (e.g. entomology, inorganic chemistry).

As an engineering major I loved quarters as well. There was no time to slack off (more of sprint than a marathon) but if you had a lousy class it was over quickly. I think we mostly had two exams and a final as well.

I also loved being in Athens until early June. Yes, I miss those spring quarter days at Stroud's or sitting on the the Frontier Room wall.