Notre Dame switching from sheepskin diplomas

SOUTH BEND, Ind — The value of a University of Notre Dame diploma is going down.

Not the value of the school's education, just the value of the diploma. The South Bend Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/orp0lS ) that starting in January, all diplomas issued to graduates will be paper rather than the sheepskin ones issued by the university most of the last century.

Associate university registrar Chuck Hurley says the school is switching for two reasons. He says about 200 students a year recently have been requesting paper diplomas because of animal welfare concerns. He also says the company that printed Notre Dame's diplomas is getting out of the sheepskin business.

It won't affect law school graduates. Those diplomas have always been printed on paper. Hurley says he doesn't know why.