TANNERSVILLE -- School snow days aren't all fun and games, and now colleges are adjusting schedules because of all the snow days this season.
Northampton Community College is talking about extending the semester.
Northampton Community College officials in Monroe County had a plan in place before the winter hit on how they would make up classes if the weather caused too many closings and delays. Now, they're extending the semester to make up for lost time.
Snow, ice, messy roads and bitter cold have kept Northampton Community College's campus in Tannersville closed for days during this spring semester.
Commuter Shannon Donahue says with this latest winter, it was to be expected.
"Sometimes I wish they'd have more snow days. It's a big hassle trying to get out of my house and sometimes it's safety, should I go to class, should I not go to class," said Shannon Donahue, a general studies major from Marshalls Creek.
The community college lost a total of three Mondays and had several other delayed openings. And now the semester is extended before final exams.
"We've taken the reading day, which is the day in between the last day of the semester and the day before final exams start and we've assigned that day for the make-up for the Monday's that we've lost," said Dr. Matthew Connell, Northampton Community College Monroe Campus Dean.
It's a plan the college has had in place since November of last year. If more days are missed, a Saturday class would be added and spring break could be lost. Students are glad it hasn't been that bad just yet.
"Personally, I'm really happy about that because I want my spring break to just catch up on school work, get ahead, because all of these missed classes have really got me behind," said Donahue.
Even though students have been spending less time thanks to all of the winter weather they say their teachers have found other ways to keep them on task.
"They email us through our Gmail accounts and our blackboard and they tell us what assignments we missed and we have to figure out what we have to do," said Anthony Napolitano, a freshman math major from Saylorsburg.
Sending online assignments is becoming more and more common. It's making it easier for students to stay on track while the winter drags on.
"If you can't make it all the way up here you can just like use your own cell phone or laptop at home and just do your work from there," said Alexander Felton, a freshman sociology major from East Stroudsburg.
The make-up day for students is May 5.
If they miss more instructional time, the college says there's likely still time to adjust, without taking away spring break like they had to do last year.
