ATLANTA – When the coronavirus pandemic struck Georgia in March of last year, Georgia’s colleges and universities suddenly had to switch to online instruction to protect students and teachers from the virus.
Now, the University System of Georgia is applying the lessons learned from that experience to establish the state’s first all-online four-year degree programs.
Valdosta State University is launching an E-degree pilot project this month that will offer eight undergraduate degrees in subjects ranging from criminal justice to general business to elementary education.
“We were always fearful some courses couldn’t be taught online,” said Rodney Carr, vice president for student success at Valdosta State and director of the school’s new Online College for Career Advancement.
“[But] we learned that’s not always the case. Some of these courses, even a lab science, could be done online. We just had to figure out how.”
Carr said the degree programs that were chosen for the pilot tend to attract non-traditional college students, a group the project is targeting.
“We designed this around the person who’s returning to school,” he said. “It’s for non-traditional students who either haven’t started college because something got in the way after high school or who need a credential to advance their career.”
Mary Tucker falls into the latter category. The Valdosta native graduated from Valdosta State in 2007 and entered the financial services workforce, first in Jacksonville, Fla., and later in Alexandria, Va., just outside of Washington, D.C.
Tucker said she decided she wanted to get a job in the federal government and felt she needed additional education to accomplish that goal.
She started looking around Northern Virginia for universities offering the courses she wanted that could fit into her full-time work schedule. It was then that she came across information on the new Valdosta State E-degree program and decided to sign up for an online degree in organizational leadership.
“I was pretty nervous,” Tucker said. “My first degree was all in the physical classroom.”
Anticipating that sense of uncertainty among students unfamiliar with how an all-online degree program would work, Valdosta State has created “concierge coaches,” faculty and staff volunteers who check with students periodically on how they’re doing and what additional assistance they might need.
Carr said the school has signed up 295 concierge coaches, with each taking responsibility for 10 to 15 students.
Tucker said having a concierge coach has been helpful.
“She made me feel a lot more comfortable with the process,” Tucker said. “It was like having my own one-on-one person to make sure I succeed.”
Tuition for the new E-degree program has been set at $299 per credit hour, in the mid-price range among University System of Georgia institutions and less than the courses offered online by the private for-profit University of Phoenix and Southern New Hampshire University.
Carr said the program doesn’t charge students for books or other materials.
“We looked at every barrier we thought exists out there and how we could tackle that barrier,” he said.
To avoid overwhelming students holding down jobs, the courses are taught just two at a time in eight-week increments.
Carr said the program is starting off with about 120 students, with a goal of increasing that to 300 to 400 by the end of the 2021-22 academic year.
“We’ve only done a little bit of marketing,” he said. “We’re starting to ramp that up some.”
Carr said the pilot project is making a four-year commitment. After that, it will be evaluated by the university system Board of Regents.
“The goal is to get people to walk across the stage and get to the finish line,” he said. “If we’re enrolling students and meeting their needs, that’s what success looks like.”