The cost of a college education doesn't weigh only on students and their parents.
"It is absolutely top of mind," Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD, said of her primary worry as president of St. Ambrose University. "Ask 100 college and university presidents what they think about most today, 99 of them will say, ‘Affordability.'"
As SAU's Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Sandra Cassady, PhD, PT, leads a university-wide mission to find innovative ways to ease the affordability burden, while also ensuring strong academic programming and introducing new high-demand degrees.
"We are trying to look for the best ways to help students reach careers of their choice in an efficient and effective manner," Cassady said. "Clear pathways for majors and programs help with this."
Pathways won't take every student in the same direction or lead to one outcome, but clear pathways can get many students where they want to go sooner, and often at a diminished cost.
At SAU, these include:
• Blended pathways to help high school students and undergraduates combine bachelor's degrees with career-enhancing graduate degrees at considerably less cost and in less time.
• An early decision admissions pathway to undergraduate Nursing and Social Work majors, as well as high-demand graduate programs such as the Master of Physician Assistant Studies, that allow students to complete their undergraduate studies with each next step fully outlined.
• Articulation agreements with regional community colleges that ease the transition to a four-year school, assure community college students their credits will transfer and provide a $1,000 scholarship.
Any and all of these pathways provide students a clear understanding of requirements for degree completion. In many cases, pathways can alleviate the stress that comes with looking to the future while tending to a very busy present.
"For parents and students alike, pathways remove uncertainty," Cassady said. "We've always had high school students who were ready and serious, but tracking programs and early-decision pathways are growing in popularity. They are becoming more common in higher education."
Plus Pathways = Affordable Grad Options
The St. Ambrose Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program has offered three levels of conditional track admissions to qualified students since 2002. Two of those tracks allow SAU undergrads who meet pre-set requirements to combine their senior undergrad year with their first year in the DPT program. This effectively trims the 6½-year commitment for earning both degrees by a full year.
Emily Studt '19 earned her Bachelor of Exercise Science degree in May, graduating summa cum laude, and now is well over halfway through her work toward a DPT degree. Studt enrolled at St. Ambrose with Track 1 DPT admission status, knowing she could earn both degrees in 5½ years and be working a year before many of her classmates.
"Incredibly helpful," said the student from Elgin, Illinois. "The track is not only saving me money but a whole bunch of time."
Studt gained a deep understanding of the St. Ambrose culture and mission as an active undergraduate. That knowledge has helped her as a graduate student, a bonus advantage of obtaining her DPT at her alma mater.
"I just feel more connected to the community," she said. "I know what Ambrose stands for, what the core values are and what's important to them. That has helped out in a huge way in the PT program, which continues the strong sense of service I got from my undergrad years."
Accreditation standards prevented the Occupational Therapy Department from recreating its own long-standing early-admissions pathways when it transitioned to a doctoral program in 2016. But policy changes now allow a 3+3 pathway to a Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) degree starting in Fall 2020.
Current qualified SAU students and incoming freshman who meet requirements now can be certain they will have a spot in the OTD program starting in their senior year, providing they meet prerequisites and continue to meet clearly defined requirements throughout their undergraduate career. So far, a dozen current students have inquired. Outreach to current high school seniors began in late fall.
Advanced Standing status is available in the Master of Social Work (MSW) program for high-qualified graduates of accredited bachelor's programs. This status will allow students to earn a MSW with 36 credit hours, as opposed to the standard 60.
MSW students also can pair that degree with a Master of Business Administration or a Master of Public Health degree. MSW students can enter their second master's program in the second year of a three-year curriculum.
Also, SAU students majoring in any of three degree programs offered by the Computer Information Sciences (CIS) Department-computer networking administration, cybersecurity and computer science-also can enroll in a 4 +1 pathway to a Master of Science in Information Technology Management (MSITM) degree.
"If accepted, they can take up to half of their graduate course as undergraduates-at undergraduate tuition rates," noted Kevin Lillis, PhD, CIS department chair. "The credits count for their undergraduate degree and their MSITM."
Naif Alzahrani '19 is among the students taking advantage of the MSITM 4+1 opportunity to save as much as $17,000 on a graduate degree employers really value. He said MSITM faculty members who work in the industry heighten the value of the program.
"They talk about challenges they face on a daily basis," he said. "I learn more from these professors than from any book."
Early Admissions = Peace of Mind
Not every pathway leads to earlier degree completion, but in the case of the highly competitive Master of Physician Assistant Studies program, the new early decision admission pathway offers invaluable peace of mind.
Typically, undergraduate students apply as seniors to multiple PA graduate programs then wait and stress. The SAU program debuted in 2014 and receives applications from as many as 600 interested students for every 30-student cohort.
High school students admitted to St. Ambrose now can be assured of admission to its PA program providing they meet a stringent set of requirements coming out of high school, continue to progress, and meet additional admission requirements by the time they are SAU seniors.
Although early-admitted MPAS students will complete the 3-year, 124-credit program on the same schedule as their classmates, Program Director Kerry Humes, MD, said more than a few could end up getting into the workplace a year sooner than they might have.
"A lot of students, by the time they do all the required health care observation hours and complete the application cycle, end up taking a gap year to fit it all in," she noted. "There's considerable savings on that earlier opportunity to learn."
Jake Platt '18 was looking for pre-med programs when he enrolled at SAU. He said he had limited awareness of the PA profession. Now a second-year MPAS student, he said an early admission pathway would have focused his plans much sooner, had it existed when he enrolled at SAU.
"Introducing the PA profession to high school students early on will allow them to make an informed decision about their future careers and give them the opportunity to get a jumpstart on program requirements," he noted.
Sarah Treat '17 will graduate from the program in December, and already has a few job offers from which to choose. She enjoyed every aspect of her St. Ambrose experience-except the stress of wondering if she'd be admitted to her graduate program of choice.
"I always knew I wanted to continue my education at St. Ambrose but with the growing number of applicants and limited number of seats, I was prepared for all possible outcomes," she said. "Early admission would've saved months of worry and uncertainty. I think this program will attract students who truly desire to attend St. Ambrose."
Early decision admission opportunities also exist for high demand undergraduate programs in nursing and social work.
Transfer Pathways = Smooth Transitions
Increasingly, starting at a community college is an affordability solution for students.
St. Ambrose is building on existing pathways to help transfer students attain their four-year degrees on schedule and with minimal confusion. The university has dual admissions articulation agreements with Eastern Iowa Community Colleges, Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois, Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Illinois, Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois, and Southeastern Community College in Burlington, Iowa.
The dual admissions pathway gives students who plan to transfer access to an SAU faculty adviser who can help align the student's community college course work with the university's general education standards. They also get access to campus amenities like the library, Wellness and Recreation Center, Career Center and more.
Additional pathway agreements allow students at Scott Community College, Muscatine Community College, and Clinton Community College to enroll in pre-approved SAU courses at the community college tuition rate.
Anna Kohl was able to take a Theology course to meet SAU general education requirements while still attending Clinton CC last year. She now has a head start on her International Business major and saved money in the process. What's more, she got an early sense of St. Ambrose.
"It really helped ease the transition," said the junior from Grand Mound, Iowa. "You can get used to the campus, meet faculty and meet students."
Kohl also took advantage of the dual admissions pathway, which provided an immediate scholarship.
For Muscatine CC transfers Sharon Adasme and Brad Burton, the financial assistance piece to the dual admissions program was a great help, but more critical to easing the transition was the direction SAU Admissions Counselor Brandi Ahlers provided.
"It was a surefire way I could start my application process early," said Adasme. "I think I applied to St. Ambrose a year and a semester before I came. I didn't have to write an essay, I didn't have to pay a transfer fee, my transcripts were transferred cheaper, and then there's the scholarship.
"The process was so much easier. I knew where I was going, and Brandi knew where I was coming from. We had classes laid out and everything transferred. I had no problem whatsoever," she said.
Burton will graduate with a degree in Multimedia Journalism on schedule this May. He got what he needed at community college and has received the career preparation that he truly wanted at St. Ambrose.
"When I was in the process of getting ready to come here, I was able to meet instructors in my program," he said. "At Muscatine, it was about getting my feet wet. And at St. Ambrose, I'm taking off. I've gained a lot of opportunities I don't think I would have gotten at any other university."
Therein lies the key pathway to the affordability of a St. Ambrose degree. Its value lies within the doors it opens to the future.
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