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Louisiana Offers New Online Program for College Dropouts

NEW ORLEANS — The University of Louisiana System has a new two-year online bachelor’s degree program for adults who left college about half-way through, with 60 credit hours and at least a solid C average.

The system will begin taking applications Monday for the eight-week term starting May 1, system spokeswoman Jackie Tisdell told The Times-Picayune.

Tuition is $325 per credit hour; the organizational leadership program takes 60 hours.

People with fewer than 60 credit hours to start with can take tests to earn credits or get assessments of skills learned on the job, Tisdell said. The program’s web page also suggests taking online courses to make up deficits.

Each school will offer a different specialty. For instance, the University of New Orleans will specialize in cultural and arts institutions, Grambling State University in human relations and Nicholls State University in food-service strategies and operations.

The other tracks are:

Disaster-relief management at Southeastern Louisiana University.

Financial services at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Health and wellness at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Project team leadership at Louisiana Tech University.

Public-safety administration at Northwestern State University.

Strategic global communication at McNeese State University.

Each participant’s first 30 hours will be taught by faculty members of all nine universities, Tisdell said, and the final 30 hours will be offered by teachers at the university whose degree track the student is following.

The need for such a program is acute, Tisdell said, because about 600,000 Louisiana residents have college credits but no degree, according to a survey conducted by a division of the U.S. Census Bureau. That figure is based on data from 2009, the most recent year for which numbers are available.

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