Eastern CT State Expanding Online Master's in Applied Data Sci, Mgmt, Acct, Sp Ed

Jonathan Whatley · Dec 14, 2023

A report in the Connecticut Examiner explores why and how Eastern Connecticut State University is expanding its online master's programs.

During a Board of Regents meeting in November, Eastern President Elsa Nunez touted the new master’s programs as a strategy the university was using to address an expected $8 million shortfall in 2025. […]

the current online offerings, explained Dean Niti Pandey, were 15-week courses that students had to take at a specific time. The classes in the new programs will be seven weeks each, taking place asynchronously, so students can watch lectures and complete classwork on their own schedules.

A full-time student, Pandey said, could complete an online master’s degree within a year.
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The university is partnering with the online program management company Bisk, who will market the program and receive half the tuition. Faculty union president Lyndsey Lanagan-Leitzel questions the relationship with Bisk. Provost William Salka stresses that online class sizes will be capped at 25 students and taught by well-engaged full-time faculty.

The new applied data science program is designed to teach students to collect, clean and summarize data, and to run data analyses. It culminates with a capstone project where students can intern for a company and get hands-on experience. Salka said Eastern already had partnerships with companies willing to take on students, most of them in the insurance industry. […]

He also noted the new degree offerings were relatively inexpensive compared to other programs. The current cost is about $714 per credit hour, or about $21,400 for a full program before fees, although that amount is expected to increase next year.

Courses begin in January, and admissions are made on a rolling basis.
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Eastern Expands Online Master’s Programs in Effort to Tackle $8M Budget Deficit (Emilia Otte, Connecticut Examiner, December 13, 2023)

Online Programs of Study (Eastern Connecticut State University Graduate Division)

SteveFoerster · Dec 14, 2023

The longer I see this, the more bizarre it seems to me that universities are still outsourcing core functions in exchange for such enormous concessions. I mean, 50% of tuition? Seriously? Twenty years ago, okay, I get it, but in 2023? Either hire some people who know what they're doing, or in cases like ECSU have the state set up an agency within the university system so that if any of these functions are redundant they can be shared. I know full well from folks in CT that their IHE budgets are not exactly swollen.

Oh well.

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Eastern CT State Expanding Online Master's in Applied Data Sci, Mgmt, Acct, Sp Ed

Jonathan Whatley Well-Known Member

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Eastern CT State Expanding Online Master's in Applied Data Sci, Mgmt, Acct, Sp Ed

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