National News
Online Degree Completion Program Helps Dropouts
By
Jan 12, 2010, 14:45

An online program developed by The University of Texas at El Paso will help people who have dropped out of college complete their degrees without having to attend class on campus.

The new online bachelor of multidisciplinary studies (BMS), created through UTEP’s University College, is a customized degree plan for students who have accumulated college credits but do not fit into a particular curriculum. It complements the existing BMS degree which has been offered only on campus. More than 500 students have received BMS degree since summer 2006.

Prime targets of this degree plan include full-time workers, soldiers, military spouses and veterans who may have interrupted their college careers because of time commitments OR deployments to new posts.
 
It provides flexibility, but it will not be self-paced. Officials also stressed that the online curriculum will be as academically challenging as the face-to-face courses.
 

The message the University wants to spread through this program is that people need to finish their degrees. By doing so they will benefit themselves, their families and their communities, said Richard Jarvis, UTEP provost and vice president for academic affairs.
 
“To compete (in business) you need qualified people. For many jobs, that means a bachelor’s (degree) and some related skills,” Jarvis said. “Completing this degree will raise your wage level.”

While the initial goal is to reach local students who have not finished their degrees, the long-term impact could be global.
 
“The market is going to be huge,” said Sunay Palsole, director of the University’s Instructional Support Services. “The world will become UTEP’s community.”
 
The initial targets are those individuals who have earned approximately 60 to 70 college credit hours. There are an estimated 75,000 people in the Paso Del Norte region alone—including about 5,000 former Miners—who have accumulated some college credits, according to Palsole. A student needs 120 credit hours to earn a BMS degree, which incorporates the credits earned into a customized degree plan.

UTEP’s online BMS degree has already generated interest from people across the state.

Bob Tortorello of Corpus Christi, Texas, is among those who plan to register for the online completion degree. He is an Army veteran who has taken college courses off and on since 1991, earning more than 165 college credits.

He said lack of money, plus personal and professional obligations, kept him for completing his degree.

Today the married father of two teenagers is determined to finish his undergraduate degree and then go for a master’s.

“I don’t know how things will unfold, but I know this is the answer,” he said. “I don’t foresee any future obstacles. My feeling now is ‘let’s finish this thing.’”