Hutchinson college, Fort Hays State to expand online offerings

HUTCHINSON, Kan. - Hutchinson Community College and Fort Hays State University are joining forces to help online students obtain four-year degrees in about a dozen fields.

By February, the schools plan to set up a common Web site, which would connect the two online programs. Students will take their lower-level courses at the community college and their upper-level courses at Fort Hays State.

The program, called Expanding Success, is thought to be the first partnership of its kind in the state.

"We had been concerned that a lot of people taking the online classes are place-bound; they're not going anywhere because they have a job or they're staying at home with family," said Larry Carver, director of instructional technology and distance education for the community college. "An associate's is a nice terminal degree for some jobs, but not if you want a teaching job or go into another field."

Education and business will be among the degrees students can pursue.

The two institutions began working on the partnership in the fall. For now, the agreement is verbal, but the two entities will form a more official agreement in the near future, said Dennis King, director of the Virtual College at Fort Hays State.

The plan is for the program to start at the beginning of the 2007-08 school year.

The schools want to pair students with two academic advisers - one for their community college courses and a second for their Fort Hays State courses, Carver said.

King said both online colleges have similar programs and demographics.

About 61 percent of the junior colleges' online students are women, with an average age of 31. At Fort Hays State, 64 percent of students are women, with an average age of 34, King said.

Eventually, Hutchinson Community College wants to form partnerships with other Board of Regents universities, including Wichita State and Kansas State.

"This helps us sell a goal of having a bachelor's degree," Hutchinson Community College President Ed Berger said. "It's a way for students to achieve that end without moving."