NICEVILLE — Northwest Florida State College will offer a new low-cost bachelor’s degree program path in the fall.
School officials were notified this week that the Florida Department of Education had approved their plan for the Bachelor of Applied Science in Management and Supervision.
Read more about the degree requirements. >>
The new degree, which could cost students as little as $10,000, is the college’s seventh bachelor’s program.
“It’s a program that we think can be very successful here at the college,” President Ty Handy said.
NWF State began considering how to offer a degree below the $10,000 threshold after Gov. Rick Scott asked state colleges last November to look into ways to make higher education more affordable.
School officials already had been investigating the technical degree path before Scott issued the challenge, so they just made some adjustments and submitted the proposal to the state for approval.
The new degree will offer students four specialties: supervision and management, public service management, health care management and human resources management. The supervision and management specialty will be the only one that will cost $10,000, Handy said.
Costs for the other specialties will be comparable to established programs, which typically cost about $12,000 to complete.
Data collected in the area a year ago showed there were 18 occupations and 7,178 jobs that matched up with those degree paths, according to a news release from NWF State. That number is expected to grow in the next few years.
“The current and projected demand exceeds current production of comparable graduates by regional colleges and universities,” college Vice President Sasha Jarrell said in the release.
This is the second bachelor’s program approved for the college this year. NWF State was notified earlier that it can offer a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education.
“We’re pleased to be at this point,” Handy said. “It just happened that we were able to get two through. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to continue that pace.”
Enrollment for the fall semester begins July 8 and school starts Aug. 19, but students can apply now at www.nwfsc.edu/admissions.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.