New options for CSC students
Agreement with WIU nets 4-year degrees
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Friday, September 29, 2006
GALESBURG - Carl Sandburg College and Western Illinois University have signed an agreement that will maximize transferability from all associate degrees and allow CSC students to complete bachelor of arts degrees at WIU without ever stepping foot on the university's Macomb or Quad-Cities campuses.The Board of Trustees Bachelor of Arts, or BOT/BA, program was developed by state universities in Illinois in the early 1970s for non-traditional students who are unable to complete four-year degrees by traditional means, due to family and work commitments or financial constraints.
The program does not have a major, but instead is individualized and flexible to meet a wide range of student needs. CSC will now help take that flexibility to a new level by facilitating distance learning for BOT/BA students.
"For many working adults, this is a very convenient way to receive a four-year degree from an accredited university," said Dr. Richard W. Carter, who directs the BOT/BA program for WIU.
Carter and Dr. Jeanne M. Clerc, associate provost of WIU's Quad-Cities campus, signed the agreement Thursday at CSC's regular Board of Trustees meeting on the Galesburg campus.
Carol Kreider, dean of Student Support Services at CSC, said students in the district have been participating in the BOT/BA program for many years, but the new partnership between CSC and WIU will utilize distance learning technologies, such as the college's EduNet system, to provide upper division courses and programs on the CSC campus and in students' homes.
Kreider said the potential exists for students to take courses in the BOT/BA program at public schools in districts that have signed on to CSC's EduNet, a broadband wireless wide area communication network designed by CSC to transmit and receive video, audio and Internet traffic.
"The BOT/BA program is not new," Kreider said. "What's new is EduNet and other distance learning opportunities."
The partnership also locks students into WIU's cost guarantee tuition program and will provide maximum transferability from all CSC associate's degrees - associate in arts, associate in science and associate in applied science - to the BOT/BA program.
Up to 80 semester hours of courses taken at community colleges can be transferred into the BOT/BA program. To complete a bachelor of arts degree, students would then take 40 semester hours of upper-division courses via the Internet, correspondence or on-site at a WIU campus. Students also may be eligible for academic credit for college-level learning that was completed in the military and other non-collegiate settings.
"This is really a degree for place-bound students who might have improved job opportunities and salaries with a bachelor's degree but are not interested in majoring in a particular area," said Kreider. "This will benefit students in associate in applied science programs the most because those don't have comparable BA programs."
With the new agreement, credits in applied science programs - from dental hygiene to mortuary science - could be applied toward a bachelor of arts degree. Students still need to meet WIU's general education requirements but have flexibility in choosing what upper-division courses would meet their educational needs and professional goals.
"The program is not for everyone," Kreider said. "For a student who wants to be a teacher or an accountant, this isn't the right program. This is for people who want a four-year degree but don't want a major."
A recent survey indicated that many of WIU's BOT/BA graduates were admitted into graduate and professional schools, but Carter said students are advised to research admission requirements for graduate-level programs to make sure they take all appropriate and necessary coursework while in the non-traditional undergraduate program.
