Budget U.: Just when soaring tuition and a soft job market have threatened to put higher education into the impossible-dream category, an accredited four-year college has started offering degree programs at the pinch-me price of $270 per course. That’s not per credit hour; that’s per course.
Columbia College, a four-year, 143-year-old residential school based in Columbia, Mo., opened an off-campus site in Waukegan last October. Housed in the training and computer rooms of Cherry Electrical Products Corp., the college offers three degrees: associate of arts, bachelor of arts and bachelor of science.
“The reason we can do it so cheaply is that we don’t have a full-time staff. We pay our instructors per course,” said Waukegan site director Dee Bittman, who also administers a site at the Glenview Naval Air Station for military personnel.
The college, which operates 22 off-campus sites from Florida to Washington, previously had a Lake County presence at the now-closed Ft. Sheridan, primarily for military personnel and a few area corporations. Columbia, which moved to Glenview 15 months ago as the military personnel pulled out of the fort, had been looking for a Lake County site where it could open its programs to the public.
The school does not compete with such local institutions as Lake Forest College and Barat, according to Bittman. “We have our own market niche. We’re geared to non-traditional students. The majority of people who come here are older than 22,” she said.
The college, which is not connected to Columbia College in Chicago, offers financial aid and life-experience credit. Entry is by high school diploma, not grade-point average.
Cherry Electric executive Hollis Earnest, some of whose employees have taken Columbia’s courses, sees Columbia’s presence as a double benefit. “I think it’s a very fine school. They hire instructors that many other colleges use,” Earnest said. “I saw it as an opportunity for our employees. So when I found out they needed a site, I offered ours.”
The school operates on an eight-week, five-term system. The next term starts in March. Phone 708-360-3572.
