2008 Woodie Awards
TU, CCBC to offer dual enrollment
College of Health Professions partners with CCBC-Essex for respiratory therapy
Kiel McLaughlin
News | 4/28/08
The College of Health Professions and the Community College of Baltimore County Essex will partner to offer health science students an opportunity to earn an applied associate's degree in respiratory therapy and a bachelor's degree in allied health. Students participating in the program that begins this fall will be duly enrolled at Towson and at CCBC Essex, according to associate dean of the College of Health Professions Marcie Weinstein.
The University currently offers a bachelor's in technical and professional studies to health science majors, but Weinstein said the program is designed for students transferring from a community college with an associate's degree.
"We have found a number of people that are freshmen are interested and would like to get in the discipline, but we had to tell them they couldn't," Weinstein said. "We told them they'd have to go somewhere else and then come back and we didn't want that to happen anymore."
Since students will be duly enrolled, they will pay for credits required at the respective institution, Weinstein said. If a student chooses to take a transferable general education course at Essex, Weinstein said, they would pay the CCBC rate for the class. All tuition, though, will be paid through Towson.
"We wanted to simplify the system so that students only have to pay at one campus," Weinstein said. "With the program, the students will actually get a nice rate."
According to Weinstein, there is a national shortage of health professionals trained in respiratory therapy, as well as other health science careers. She said she expects 12 students to enroll in the program this fall as they seek to grow interest.
"The shortage is critical and therefore, the job opportunities are plentiful," Weinstein said. "This will allow us to put more respiratory therapists out in the field. There is definitely a need."
The University currently offers a bachelor's in technical and professional studies to health science majors, but Weinstein said the program is designed for students transferring from a community college with an associate's degree.
"We have found a number of people that are freshmen are interested and would like to get in the discipline, but we had to tell them they couldn't," Weinstein said. "We told them they'd have to go somewhere else and then come back and we didn't want that to happen anymore."
Since students will be duly enrolled, they will pay for credits required at the respective institution, Weinstein said. If a student chooses to take a transferable general education course at Essex, Weinstein said, they would pay the CCBC rate for the class. All tuition, though, will be paid through Towson.
"We wanted to simplify the system so that students only have to pay at one campus," Weinstein said. "With the program, the students will actually get a nice rate."
According to Weinstein, there is a national shortage of health professionals trained in respiratory therapy, as well as other health science careers. She said she expects 12 students to enroll in the program this fall as they seek to grow interest.
"The shortage is critical and therefore, the job opportunities are plentiful," Weinstein said. "This will allow us to put more respiratory therapists out in the field. There is definitely a need."
Be the first to comment on this story