get these nets
Veteran
*yes, I wrote hBCU and didn't use a capital H
Bluefield State College is seeing a ‘record-setting’ increase in fall enrollment.
BLUEFIELD — Bluefield State University may once again start offering new two-year associate’s degree programs.
Senate Bill 602, co-sponsored by state Sen. Chandler Swope, would allow BSU to offer associate’s degrees as it did until about 20 years ago.
Jim Nelson, Assistant to the President at BSU, said the system of higher education was changed around 2003 when legislators took almost all two-year programs away from four-year institutions to help create the community college system.
Although opinion about the change was sharply divided, including a rally in Charleston against the change, it had “impetus,” Nelson said, and garnered enough support to pass.
Part of the impetus was provided by some four-year institutions that somehow saw offering two-year programs as taking away from their status, Nelson said.
But it was quite a blow to Bluefield State.
“We had a wonderfully workable system in the two-plus-two model,” Nelson said of offering a two-year associate’s degree that could put students directly into a good job but also offer a path to a four-year degree if they chose to do so. “We were humming like a fine-tuned motor.”
However, BSU went from 3,500 students to about half that number after the change and, after “lobbying hard,” was allowed to keep only two associate degree programs – in engineering technology and nursing.
Nelson said BSU had already been “hamstrung” by lacking on-campus housing so it was a struggle to maintain enrollment, which continued to decline.
That was especially troubling because as a HBCU (Historically Black College and Universities) school and serving the community by having a niche to meet students where they were, the change was “terribly ill-timed for us,” Nelson said.
According to the bill, “Due to the need to fulfill their historical mission as historically black colleges, Bluefield State University and West Virginia State University shall be authorized to offer associate degrees on their campus as were permitted prior to the establishment of the current system of higher education.”
Ted Lewis, BSU Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, said that, if passed, the bill will allow the university to better fulfill its mission.
Legislation would allow BSU to offer new 2-year degree programs
- Feb 15, 2023
Bluefield State College is seeing a ‘record-setting’ increase in fall enrollment.
BLUEFIELD — Bluefield State University may once again start offering new two-year associate’s degree programs.
Senate Bill 602, co-sponsored by state Sen. Chandler Swope, would allow BSU to offer associate’s degrees as it did until about 20 years ago.
Jim Nelson, Assistant to the President at BSU, said the system of higher education was changed around 2003 when legislators took almost all two-year programs away from four-year institutions to help create the community college system.
Although opinion about the change was sharply divided, including a rally in Charleston against the change, it had “impetus,” Nelson said, and garnered enough support to pass.
Part of the impetus was provided by some four-year institutions that somehow saw offering two-year programs as taking away from their status, Nelson said.
But it was quite a blow to Bluefield State.
“We had a wonderfully workable system in the two-plus-two model,” Nelson said of offering a two-year associate’s degree that could put students directly into a good job but also offer a path to a four-year degree if they chose to do so. “We were humming like a fine-tuned motor.”
However, BSU went from 3,500 students to about half that number after the change and, after “lobbying hard,” was allowed to keep only two associate degree programs – in engineering technology and nursing.
Nelson said BSU had already been “hamstrung” by lacking on-campus housing so it was a struggle to maintain enrollment, which continued to decline.
That was especially troubling because as a HBCU (Historically Black College and Universities) school and serving the community by having a niche to meet students where they were, the change was “terribly ill-timed for us,” Nelson said.
According to the bill, “Due to the need to fulfill their historical mission as historically black colleges, Bluefield State University and West Virginia State University shall be authorized to offer associate degrees on their campus as were permitted prior to the establishment of the current system of higher education.”
Ted Lewis, BSU Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, said that, if passed, the bill will allow the university to better fulfill its mission.
