Lone Star College is adding bachelor’s degree programs
After 15 years of trying, Lone Star College finally has the bachelor degree programs it has been working to add to its offerings.
After receiving approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges Monday night, LSC announced Tuesday that starting in September of 2020, LSC students will have the option of earning a bachelor of science in nursing; bachelor of applied technology in cybersecurity; and bachelor of applied science in energy, manufacturing and trades management.
The creation of these programs was driven by the need for more educated and accredited individuals in all three fields.
“The reason for the nursing is because there’s a major shortage in our area,” said LSC Chancellor Steve Head. “In our area alone there’s a shortage of nurses with bachelor’s degrees, and accreditation agencies in the hospitals want nurses with bachelor’s degrees to move up into leadership positions.”
There’s only one other college in the state that currently offers a degree in cyber security, at the University of Texas San Antonio. These two degrees alone, from Head’s perspective, were meeting two of the greatest needs in the state: a shortage
of nurses and cyber security experts.
Other colleges with similar degrees are different, Head said, because they aren’t designed to be part of a workforce path like the LSC programs.
“We anticipate a really healthy enrollment in all programs,” Head said.
The rollout of the programs will start with the nursing degree, which will be located at the system’s Montgomery campus. Then the cyber security program, at the Westway Park Technology Center operated by LSC-Cyfair, wrapping up with the energy and manufacturing program at the LSC-North Harris campus.
All of the programs will be taught out of existing LSC facilities with a bit of remodelling.
The programs are designed to be finished in two years using eight-week terms. Classes will be a hybrid of face-to-face education as well as online work. Students can take two classes at a time.
“We’re not getting into the four-year business,” Head said. “We’re not competing with our friends. We have close relationships and partners with our universities, so we’re talking with them to make sure we don’t get into offering programs they do.”
The way the legislation is written, Head said, Lone Star College can’t charge more for four-year programs than they do for two-year programs. So, students will be able to get a bachelor’s degree for less than $15,000. More information can be found at lonestar.edu/bachelorsdegrees.
When five community colleges, including Lone Star College, applied for the accreditation for a bachelor of applied technology program 15 years ago, only three were approved.
“There was quite a bit of opposition from the universities back then, concerned that we would be encroaching on their areas and what they do,” Head said. “Even though we thought all along that universities in our region — the reason we’re doing this is because they don’t offer these kinds of programs. These are workforce-related programs and they just don’t offer it the way we do.”
Since then, the college system has been continuing to pursue the possibility of offering bachelor programs.
Because LSC has been preparing for these programs for years, the college has already set aside the money needed to start each program. Startup costs for each is around half a million dollars.
The college has already been searching for dean’s to head each program and an executive dean for the bachelor programs and plan to make several hiring decisions before the end of the year.
LSC is currently in talks with the Texas Military Department about the possibility of offering a bachelor’s degree in emergency management but have not submitted any curriculum for the approval from the coordinating program.