The nickel's design will be changed to commemorate the bicentennial of 19th century explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's journey into the American West.
U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White said the nickel design comes after legislation Congress passed last year.
The new design, which will debut next year, will have a new image of Jefferson on the obverse, or heads side, as well as two new reverses, or tails sides.
The nickel was chosen to commemorate Lewis and Clark's westward exploratory expedition in 1803, after President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in the same year.
For the first time in 67 years, the image of Jefferson is being changed, White said. The new image was based on a marble sculpture of Jefferson's head done by Jean-Antoine Houdon in 1789 and made "age appropriate to his presidency by utilizing paintings by Gilbert Stuart and Rembrandt Peale," according to the mint's Web site.
Jefferson's head will be off-center and facing the right of the coin. This is different from the current centered profile of Jefferson, which has him facing left.
The word "Liberty" will still appear on the heads side of the coin but will be "based on Jefferson's handwriting," the mint's Web site said. The coin's year and the phrase "In God We Trust" will remain on the front along the edge opposite of Jefferson's head.
The coin's first new reverse design will be released in spring 2005 and will be of an American bison. The bison was chosen to recognize the animal's significance to American Indians as well as the wildlife Lewis and Clark mentioned in their journals from the trip, according to the mint's Web site.
Senior Ameera Kawash thinks it is a good idea to have the bison on the nickel. "[It is] a way of acknowledging the original inhabitants and habitats ... that were here long before us," she said.
Another set of coins will show a scenic view of the Pacific Ocean on the tails side, including a cliff and trees. This nickel will be released next summer and fall.
There will be an inscription on the coin based on an excerpt from Clark's journal on Nov. 7, 1805: "Ocean in View! O! The Joy!" the mint's Web site said.
Not all AU students are happy about the new design, which College Democrat President Greg Wasserstrom said looks like "Monopoly money."
Sophomore Karen Racowsky agreed.
"Money should be timeless, and the new coins are less traditional," she said.
Next year's new nickels are the continuation of the "Westward Journey Nickel Series" that began this year.
These nickels feature the same heads side as older coins but have two new tails sides.
The first one shows the Indian Peace Medal that the expedition presented to American Indians as a symbol of friendship and peace.
The other is an image of the keelboat that Lewis had built to his specifications. The boat was used to transport men and supplies during the expedition. On the coin, Lewis and Clark are pictured on the boat's bow.
About 700 million of each new design will be produced, White said.
He said the coin would return to the old tails-side image of Jefferson's estate, Monticello, in 2006. There is, however, a "possibility of new picture of Jefferson," he said.
