Pittsburg State on Tuesday, announced a major change. The university will now confer Associate degrees. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
At the urging of President Dan Shipp, the Kansas Board of Regents authorized Pitt State to automatically award Associate of Arts degrees in General Studies to students once they’ve met the requirements of the degree.
In the past four years, Pitt State has had nearly 600 students with hours for such a degree, and those degrees will be retroactively awarded in the coming year.
Pitt State President Dan Shipp spoke about the change earlier this year.
“So we’re creating an achievement architecture that will set an achievement floor. So in years two to three to help our students get through their general education requirement, we will confer an Associate of Arts degree.
That’s really important because what does that, it protects that investment. Students have paid for that credential and they’ve paid for that credential, we’re just not currently conferring it.”
The move is endorsed by the National Institute of Student Success; at a time when retention is challenging at universities across the nation, it’s thought to be a strategy that will improve persistence.
Pitt State will be the first university in Kansas to do so. The change will go into effect this fall.
