Questions about offering a new degree?

This is just because I am a very curious guy, very. Lets just say a school like Penn Foster or even a RA school like TESC or Excelsior wanted to offer a new degree program. What is involved? Who actually comes up with the materials and sets up the whole program? What kind of costs are affiliated with something like this? Does the credit issuing agency have to review the program first? I'm in interested in what a private school like Penn Foster as apposed to a state school like TESC/Excelsior has to go through to do this? Like Penn Foster only has 2 BS degree, what if they wanted to add one or a few? Thanks for any help, just really curious questions.

 

If a school wants to offer a new degree program, then general, it probably needs the approval of (1) the state education licensing agency, and (2) the institutional accreditation agency (assuming the school is accredited). If a professional program is involved, then the school may also need approval from (3) the applicable professional accreditation agency.

Such approval may be relatively easy to get in some cases, and more difficult in others, depending on the state, the accreditor(s), and the type of program. For example, many states exempt religious degree programs from oversight, so any kind of religious degree program could be offered with little or no hassle. On the other hand, if a school wants to start a medical or law program, it's going to be a lot more difficult, since high-level professional accreditation will be involved.

By the way, note that Excelsior is not a state school. It was originally established by the New York State Board of Regents, but it was privatized in 1998, so it is now a private non-profit insitution. TESC and COSC are "state colleges" (as you can tell be their names), but Excelsior is not.

 

Interesting info, thanks. Yeah I know Excelsior isn't technically a state school, but most of us think of it that way.

 

I would offer that CalDog is dead on, but would alter "(1) and (2)" to read "(1) or (2)." Not all states are involved with accredited schools. (Some are barely involved with higher education at all.) And I'm not so sure schools have to get every new program cleared with their accreditor at the outset, but I might be wrong there.

 

If you think of it that way, you might miss some important points about Excelsior.

For example, TESC and COSC have two-tiered tuition: since they are financially supported by the taxpayers of NJ and CT, they offer significant tuition discounts to NJ and CT residents (or charge higher tuition to out-of-staters, depending on how you look at it). This is normal practice for state schools.

But Excelsior is private, is not supported by NY state, and does not discount tuition for NY residents (or does not charge higher tuition to out-of-staters, if you want to look at it that way). This is normal practice for private schools. Could be a significant financial factor, depending on your state.

 

At WASC, a new degree program is considered a "substantive change" that requires review and approval. It may or may not be similar with other accreditors.

Some states -- like Maryland -- do seem to review and approve new degree programs. It may or may not be similar in other states. Some states may be more "hands-off", especially if a school has the approval of a recognized accreditor.

So the rules probably vary, but in most cases a state agency and/or an institutional accreditor will probably have to approve the proposed new program. Depending on the type of program, a professional accreditor might be involved as well.

 

CalDog you are correct they have one tuition for all and that is very cool. I really like that about them.

 

But the per credit hour cost at Excelsior is more expensive than the out-of-state costs at COSC and TESC.

 

Is that right, I hadn't checked that out. They must be expensive then. When I first checked out TESC and I added up the tuition I was like What the "blank"! Then like everyone else I found you can do the General ED requirements cheaply outside of the school, and FEMA for "Free electives", and then transfer credits in pretty easily I was very pleased. The way these schools do things is just awesome. Even if I just graduated HS I would go this route, why waste time for 4 years. Then again an 18 year old kid has nothing better to do but waste 4 years and have fun doing it.