NSU, TCC Partner to offer Health Care Administration degree

(Tulsa, OK)--Beginning this fall, students at Tulsa Community College can take all required courses within Northeastern State University's Health Care Administration bachelor's degree program on the TCC Metro Campus.

The two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding June 29. The memorandum allows NSU to deliver the courses at TCC through multiple mediums. HCA classes will be offered as eight-week accelerated courses.

NSU Provost Martin Tadlock said the HCA offering is another Smart Choice partnership allowing Northeastern to deliver a degree completion program entirely on a TCC campus.

"This allows working adults in the surrounding community to complete their associate's degree with the Smart Choice partner then continue towards a baccalaureate degree from NSU without leaving home," Tadlock said. "Courses will be delivered in a hybrid or blended format, online and face-to-face at an accelerated pace so that students can complete a three-credit course every eight weeks, allowing them to complete a the bachelor's degree within two years."

NSU also has Smart Choice agreements with Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, Eastern Oklahoma State and Connors State. Such arrangements operate successfully in other states, but Northeastern's understandings with NEO, EOSC, CSC and TCC are the first of their kind in Oklahoma.

Tadlock expects Smart Choice to enjoy the same success as similar programs elsewhere.

"The off-campus degree completion programs are designed for working adults who are place-bound and do not have access to a baccalaureate degree where there is face time with advisers and instructors from the university to work with them," he said. "We will have an adviser on the Smart Choice campus on a regular basis to meet with students and our professors will also teach courses with face to face time. That access to people from NSU at the two-year campus, the substantial cost savings to students who would otherwise pay a premium for enrolling in online degree programs through for-profit universities, and the guarantee of a quality degree program from a respected state university is what makes NSU distinctive."

The HCA program is offered through NSU's College of Business and Technology, which acquired it from the College of Liberal Arts in 2009.

"We took it last fall through a substantial curriculum revision and we made it much more business-oriented," said Dr. John Schleede, Dean of the Business and Technology College. "Since that time the program has grown on campus. We believe there are a substantial number of people who may have an associate's degree or some sort of a technical degree who are moving into supervisory roles and may be interested in completing a baccalaureate or administrative degree."

Five health care administration courses will be offered in 2010-11; two this fall, two in spring 2011 and one in summer 2011.

NSU will provide all funding for the courses and send a recruiter-adviser for the program to TCC at least once a week. Those enrolled in the classes will be counted as students at NSU, which will provide financial aid services and collect tuition and fees related to the courses.