Pittsburg State University became the first four-year university in Kansas to grant two-year AA degrees on Monday.
KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
The initiative was authorized in 2023 by the Kansas Board of Regents and Pitt State is the first university in Kansas to automatically confer the degree as students earn it.
To achieve the degree the Pitt State Registrar’s Office evaluated student transcripts at the end of each semester for eligibility. Students had to meet the following requirements. They had to be seeking their first Bachelor’s degree without an existing Associate of Arts or Associate of Science.
They were also required to have at least 60 credit hours completed and have at least 15 credit hours done in residence at PSU. Also, students needed to have completed the GE program applicable to their University Catalog and have earned at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA.
PSU President Dan Shipp spoke Monday about listening sessions he held with students resulting in his avocation to KBOR to award AA degrees.
“One of those things that came up early in those conversations was, I’ll never forget it.
I wrote it down and have it in my office. It was a quote that says, we’ll for many of us it feels like four years takes too long to earn our degree. Four years seems like a long time.”
Later this Spring, AA degrees will be awarded to former students who stopped short of earning a Bachelor’s but who met the requirements for an AA degree.
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