Athens State recently held a reception to introduce its rebranded Adult Degree Program (ADP) office, now the Adult Learner Services Office (ALSO). ALSO is designed to assist working adults finish their degree by applying their experience and knowledge as college credit.
The mission of ALSO is to serve the adult working student who has completed some college coursework without obtaining a college degree. To encourage student success, ALSO is designed to reduce or eliminate barriers for returning adult students while providing academically sound alternative methods to apply knowledge gained from the integration of work and classroom experience and to assist the student in the timely achievement of their professional and career goals.
“It takes courage to balance finishing your degree with the demands of work and family life,” said Dr. Catherine Wehlburg, Athens State University’s Interim President. “Choosing to complete a college education is a monumental step for working adults and we want to do all we can to assist them through our Adult Learner Services Office.”
Through ALSO, adult learners get the flexibility of an accredited online education along with the lowest tuition rates in Alabama. Faculty and staff for ALSO provide a customized path to degree completion and have worked tirelessly to create these accelerated degree programs, designed with working adults in mind.
“We want to help adult learners reach their academic and professional goals as quickly as possible,” said Felicia Mucci, Director of ALSO. “That is why it is so important to honor knowledge and training that may have been obtained outside of the classroom.”
Adult Learning Services administers a Prior Learning Assessment to discover what prior knowledge and training can be translated to college credit. From there, the student is paired with an advisor to help customize the best educational pathway to reach their goals. For more information about ALSO, please visit www.athens.edu/also.