Published: May 31, 2006 09:58 pm      

Agreements present degree possibilities for area college students

Ashland — Three new agreements will allow Kentucky community college graduates to transfer to Morehead State University to earn bachelor’s degrees in social work and nursing.

Under the transfer agreements, coursework done at the community college level will apply toward MSU credit.

The agreements cover all colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, which includes Ashland Community and Technical College.

Morehead State has a regional center housed at ACTC’s College Drive campus.

“What’s really exciting about this agreement is that it allows graduates of the (associate’s degree in nursing) program to continue their professional development and achieve their baccalaureate degree primarily online,” said ACTC nursing coordinator and interim dean for academic affairs Janie Kitchen.

The online option is important to ACTC nursing grads because most of them quickly land full-time nursing jobs and need flexibility in scheduling their schooling, Kitchen said.

“Nursing shifts have become very creative to meet the needs of employers, so traditional timelines of education don’t fit,” she said.

The option may encourage more graduates to pursue baccalaureate degrees, she said.

ACTC already has a separate agreement with MSU to transfer credit in its social work program, said Nancy Preston, social work coordinator for MSU’s Ashland center.

The first class of MSU social work students who started at ACTC is slated to finish up in December, she said.

Preston thinks the Ashland center’s experience shows the promise of the system-wide agreement. “It has really been very smooth here. ACTC has worked very hard to make sure that their students who are interested in a social work degree had the right classwork,” she said.

The agreements make it easier for students to complete their college degrees without having to leave the area. Preston believes they won’t have to leave after they graduate either.

“What we’re excited about here is that this is where the growth is. There’s a great need for social workers in our area.”

Details of the three agreements include:

‰Associate in arts to bachelor of social work — MSU will accept the entire 61 hours of associate’s degree work plus an additional 13 elective hours. Upon completion of 54 hours the student will earn the BSW degree.

‰Associate in applied science in human services to bachelor of social work — MSU will accept the entire 64 hours of the AAS degree plus an additional 10 hours; upon completion of 54 hours at MSU the student will earn the BSW degree.

‰Associate in arts in nursing to bachelor of science in nursing — Once a KCTCS nursing graduate successfully completes the first course in MSU’s nursing program, MSU will accept all 74 hours of the AAS in nursing and an additional 13 hours of specified general education courses for a total of 87 hours.

Students will complete an additional 43 hours at MSU to complete the bachelor of science in nursing.

KCTCS made a fourth agreement with Western Kentucky University to transfer credit from the associate in arts in information technology to a bachelor’s degree in computer information technology.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.