LSU to target older students

Bachelor’s completion program aimed at ‘working-class adults’

Print Email Save Share Del.icio.us Digg Facebook Reddit LSU is considering a new “bachelor’s degree completion program” as a means to attract more area residents in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are considering returning to school or starting college late.

A new LSU-commissioned study released this week shows that the Baton Rouge region is ripe for such a program and would put LSU in direct competition with the for-profit University of Phoenix’s Baton Rouge satellite campus.

Douglas Weimer, LSU Continuing Education executive director, said he wants to attract more “working-class adults” to LSU through a hybrid mix of more online, evening and weekend classes that push students toward four-year bachelor’s degrees.

These are the potential, nontraditional students — 25 years and older — who are unable to attend standard weekday classes from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Weimer said.

With an enrollment of about 28,000 students, LSU Chancellor Michael Martin has contended he wants the number up to 32,000 by drawing a mix of more graduate students — a longstanding goal — and more nontraditional students.

A bachelor’s degree completion program would specifically target those older students Martin desires who are looking to start college late or finish their studies.

Budgetary concerns during the national recession could affect when to start the program, Weimer said. But he argued that such a degree-completion program could quickly become a strong revenue generator for LSU because of enrollment boosts.

The study, which was conducted by Eduventures, a Boston-based higher education consulting company, showed that such a program could fit LSU well, said Kristen Craib, Eduventures lead researcher.

While the overall population may continue to decline in Louisiana, the 25 and older demographic is predicted to jump nearly 4 percent — or more than 100,000 people — during the next five years, according to the study.

About 55 percent of Louisiana’s adult population will soon be high-school graduates with non or partial college experience. Those are the best candidates for a bachelor’s degree completion program, Craib said.

She also said LSU would have to focus on more than just the population in the Baton Rouge city limits. About 65 percent of two-year associate’s degree graduates who may want to pursue a bachelor’s degree are in the Baton Rouge region but outside the city proper.

Jim McCoy, LSU vice provost for enrollment management, said he hopes LSU’s “brand strength” would make LSU more popular for nontraditional students.

“When you talk to folks, you can tell there’s a real strong affinity for the LSU brand,” Weimer said.

McCoy said there also are lots of former LSU students who dropped out because of having children or jobs who may want to return.

“We have one flagship,” McCoy said, “and we need to do a better job of positioning ourselves.”

A lot of questions remain, McCoy said, “But we do want to expand our footprint.”

Besides general studies, Craib said the most popular bachelor’s degree completion programs typically are in business administration, social sciences and history, computing and information technology, marketing and teacher education.

LSU Continuing Education offers many distance learning and nondegree training programs, such as a management and leadership certificate program. But there are no bachelor’s degree completion programs specifically for non-traditional students at LSU.

Joseph Greenberg, LSU Continuing Education associate executive director and head of outreach programs, brought up the potential competition with the only area school providing similar degree services. He described the University of Phoenix as a “huge marketing machine, and it’s centrally controlled.”

The for-profit college does a good job of balancing that central control with satellite campuses — such as in Baton Rouge — that offer part-time instructors and counselors, Greenberg said.

LSU could tap into businesses helping to pay the tuition costs for some employees to finish their college coursework, he said. But LSU’s high fee costs, which are separate from tuition, could be a deterrent, Greenberg said.