BA/BS in Liberal Arts with Focus on Social work ?

Does anyone know any college that offers an online BS/BA in IS or Liberal Studies with a focus in Social Work ?

Not looking for a BSW per say. but just a general degree with a focus in SW.

I've check the big 3, none of them have SW as a concentration.

 

In order to do that you'd first need to find a school that has a Bachelors program in Social Work (schools don't typically offer social work courses without also offering the major) and it would have to be online AND the school would have to let you take the SW courses as a part of your LA package. Step 1 is the find the schools that have the online SW programs. They're all listed here:

Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) - Council on Social Work Education

 

Why not just get a degree in social science, psychology, sociology, human services, behavioral science, or counseling?

 

no idea. a friend has done quite abit of social work modules years ago from Cal State.

she just wants to finish her degree, but was hoping to do it with a focus on social work since she's got alot of credits in that area.

i mentioned to her about finishing a BSW, but she's working in Indonesia right now, and getting a field placement there is almost impossible.

 

Liberty University has a IS degree you can pick SW.

 

The Excelsior BS Lib Arts degree allows up to 58 elective credits - you could take a variety of social work courses and transfer them to the Excelsior degree (I did that but used the electives for engineering and business courses). In effect this is a self designed degree.

The other big 3 schools may also offer a similar degree format.

 

Most (if not all) jurisdictions require a M.S.W. for licensure, so the best option might be the cheapest, quickest RA degree in psychology, counseling, etc., as the precursor to a graduate program.

 

This is one of those situations where both NA and Associates degrees can have more utility than either is given credit for.

Your friend can earn an RA B.A. in Liberal Studies (or anything, for that matter) and possibly earn an Associates from a place like McKinley College (DEAC).

Then she gets to put "Social Work" on her resume without relying on the NA degree for employment purposes.

My ex did something similar. She had a BSW and MSW and earned the PF (then Thompson) A.S. in Early Childhood Education to help her transition from working with the elderly to working with kids. Yeah, the MSW is what got her the job. But the A.S. helped to set her apart and made for an interesting conversation piece with interviewers. I feel that it gave her a slight advantage over some other candidates (all of whom had MSWs) as she began applying to a position where a strong ECE background was useful.

Your resume is a portrait. Sometimes the small details matter more than the big ones.

 

I didn't count to see if it was over 50%, but a lot of states license at the baccalaureate level. It's not really a question of whether or not you can be licensed, but what you can do with the license. Most employers want LMSWs and LCSWs. There is not a lot of demand for LBSWs even though they are licensed because their scope of practice is limited. However, even if someone were looking to become an LBSW (some states call them LSWs, RSWs, or LSWAs), most states require CSWE accreditation. You're not going to find this in an online liberal studies or general studies program with a concentration in social work. Completing a BSW program can give you advanced standing in an MSW program.

Social Work License Requirements by State | SocialWorkLicensure.org

 

It's also quite possible that the unnamed "friend" this information is for is not pursuing a path toward licensure. While it's fine to consider licensing pathways when we are discussing social work there are plenty of avenues where social work degrees are either required or preferred which simply does not involve obtaining a license.

I was recently flipping through some job postings at a university and was a bit surprised at how many jobs required a degree in "higher education administraton, education or social work" for positions that would only be, at best, tangentially related to the latter two.

If a person had a bunch of social work coursework they were likely in a BSW program in the past. While you can certainly transfer those courses into a BALS program, I understand why a person might want some sort of social work "mention" in their degree. I always felt a little weird not having psych appear anywhere on my diplomas despite the fact that psych coursework made up most of my A.A. and the better part of my B.S. in Business. It's one of the reasons why I am doing this B.S.O.L. as I feel it, in a way, bridges the two majors in a way that is relevant to my current career.

So the first question anyone should ask is whether they want to be licensed. If, in any incarnation, that is on the table then a non-CSWE accredited program is probably not a good choice. If the goal is licensure at the Masters level and this degree is just going to, hopefully, help you gain admission to an MSW program then it probably doesn't matter unless you want to take advantage of one of those advanced standing for BSW programs. If you just want a bachelor's degree and want a nod to the SW coursework taken, then you have some freedom to get creative with it.

 

I assumed the friend didn't want to become licensed due to her not wanting to deal with field placements. If one wants to do unlicensed work in social services, a psychology degree is just as marketable. This could vary by region, but after looking at thousands of local, state, and federal jobs, I haven't noticed that a degree in social work is generally more desired than a degree in psychology for jobs not requiring a license. It seems like an undergraduate degree in psychology gets mentioned more in job ads than an undergraduate degree in social work.

 

i've shown her the big 3 actually. hopefully she can get something out of that. i only see her during church if it happens to be during the same time. hopefully she would be able to finish something at TESU. i got a feeling psychology would be the closest.

Liberty was another option but it's also expensive and i've also shown her some BSW online completion programs. and also told her about the 'basic BA/BS' then go find a MSW online.

hopefully that's enough of resources.

 

Adams State University ofers an online BA in Sociology with Social Welfare concentration.