The  Ohio University Board of Trustees approved plans to switch the university from quarters to semesters in a meeting Friday, as expected by members of a committee already formed to plan the conversion.

Executive Vice President and Provost  Kathy Krendl projected the cost of the change, which will take effect at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year, to be about  $2 million, with most of the money going toward easing students’ transition.

The largest portion of the budget “will be focused on the students … in additional advising and additional faculty support for those overseeing the transition,” Krendl said, adding that a draft of the budget exists but has not yet been examined by the committee.

 Vice Chairwoman M. Marnette Perry stressed the $2 million cost is a preliminary number.

“I think that’s still being studied, and I’m sure that we’ll get a more exact number as we go down the road,” she said. “It is what it is.”

The committee, composed of  18 voting and  12 non-voting members, was formed in September. Co-chairman  Tom Carpenter said the committee members expected the decision to go through.

In  March the  Ohio Board of Regents urged universities still using the quarter system to “strongly consider” switching to semesters to ease the transfer of credits and to improve efficiency. Only  four public universities in Ohio still use the quarter system.

A divided committee considered an academic system change in 2007, narrowly voting to remain with quarters. The committee said OU could lose between $8.2 million and $21.1 million, with a likely enrollment reduction and other expected costs. Earlier, another committee examined a switch to semesters in the 1996-97 school year.

OU switched from semesters to quarters in the late 1960s when both President Roderick McDavis and Board of Trustees  Chairman C. Daniel DeLawder were students.

University of Cincinnati’s board is scheduled to vote on the system change at its November meeting. UC’s  $13 million estimate for the cost of the switch includes a student information system upgrade, while OU is not counting a necessary system upgrade in its price tag. OU expects to spend $23 million replacing its 15-year-old system, which goes offline in a year and a half.

McDavis said it is clear “a decision like this is critically important,” but acknowledged that not everyone will embrace the change.

Sergio Lòpez-Permouth, president of the  Faculty Senate, said he thought Krendl’s $2 million prediction was a “very low estimate,” and the provost hadn’t considered the faculty’s workload.

“I’m not convinced that this can be done inexpensively — as the provost claims,” he said. “When you plan for the future, if you do it correctly, you’re not just budgeting money, but you’re budgeting the use of your resources.

He also said the planning placed an undue burden on faculty, adding he thinks the switch should be postponed until 2013.“I’m concerned about the impact on faculty workload,” he said. “I’m concerned about the hidden cost of missed opportunities.”

“We’re just not prepared for what is coming, and it’s being dumped on us,” he said.— Chris Kardish and Emily Grannis contributed to this report.