Wednesday, June 4, 2003
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Wednesday, June 4, 2003 |
Survey says Fayette ready for CCSU classesClayton College & State University is bringing academic classes to Fayette County at the "invitation" of the citizenry. Although Clayton State had been offering non-credit, Continuing Education classes at the Fayette County Higher Education Center at the Peachtree City Tennis Center in Peachtree City since October, bringing academic courses for students enrolled at Clayton State to Fayette County was another matter ... involving some planning and a lot of surveying, with the goal of both assessing and meeting the needs of the community in regard to academic courses. These actions were required by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia prior to establishing academic courses, and were also essential in terms of Clayton State understanding what the people of Fayette County wanted from higher education. So, in November and December, the University conducted a random telephone survey throughout the county, followed by a January mail-in survey. And the surveys said that Fayette County is ready for academic classes. In effect, an invitation for the University to proceed with its plans upon approval by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. The telephone survey found that 68.1 percent of the respondents were interested in taking college courses for credit. The mail-in survey, by its nature a more advocacy-based polling, found that 262 of 271 respondents (96.7%) were interested in taking college courses for credit. To respond to the public interest, and to familiarize actual prospective students to the academic programs that have been created in part in response to the surveys, a series of four Information Sessions will be held at the Fayette County Center tomorrow evening. The half-hour sessions will start at 5:30 p.m., 6:15 p.m., 7 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. The sessions are free and open to all interested individuals on a space-available basis. Due to the limited space at the Fayette Center, those interested in attending the information sessions must sign up in advance. For information, or to sign up for the sessions, go to http://adminservices.clayton.edu/admissions/fayette.htm. The information sessions will cover such academic basics as information on the admission process, financial aid, registration, testing, etc. Additionally, representatives from Clayton State's admissions, financial aid, testing center, and records offices will be on hand so that attendees can turn in applications and/or consult individually with University representatives after the general sessions. Among the data also gathered in the surveys were the public's preferences for the time of day for academic courses, and the ages of the prospective students. Among the respondents to both surveys, 180 said they preferred to take evening classes, as opposed to 153 preferring daytime classes and 134 preferring weekend classes. Hence, to start, the Fayette Center schedule will feature classes from 5 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. While those interested in taking academic courses in Peachtree City represented a broad spectrum of ages, the majority (284 out of the 481 total respondents) were in the 31 to 55 age group. In fact, respondents aged 41 to 55 showed more interest in the classes than any other single age group. This fall's classes will indeed be focused towards adult or non-traditional students who have little or no college credit but wish to pursue a bachelor's degree. Non-traditional students are defined as those individuals who graduated from high school five or more years ago. Traditional students (those whose graduation from high school is within the last five years) will be allowed to enroll on a space available basis. "We are focusing on non-traditional, adult students to better serve the population in Fayette County," said Dr. Sharon E. Hoffman, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs. "Working parents, individuals holding full-time jobs during the day, people working in the Peachtree City or Fayetteville areas and the like." Although interest was expressed in 14 different majors everything from music to psychology in the surveys, the most interest was shown for core education courses (22 percent in the telephone survey, 34 percent in the mail-in survey). In response, the four courses to be offered starting in August with the fall semester will be part of the core curriculum needed by all Clayton State baccalaureate students courses in critical thinking, U.S. history, english composition and general psychology. A cohort of 43 students, divided into two groups, will be admitted for the fall semester.
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