Tuesday, March 08, 2011
After Friday’s approval from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, Colorado Mountain College is one step closer to offering bachelors’ degrees locally. The pursuit for 4-year programs began in November 2009, and CMC is slowly making progress towards fulfilling demands for higher education in Steamboat.
For Steamboat, this is a golden torch for our education program. In addition to being able to take college courses at an earlier age, locla kids will benifit from the school’s degree programs by being able to pursue higher ranking degrees locally for cheaper costs than other in-state colleges. Not only is this an asset for kids growing up here, but also for the community as it will draw in a different demographic of college atendees than we have formerly seen.
In the past, the college only offered associates degrees. Local kids jokingly referred to the school as “Harvard on the Hill” and used it’s (comparatively) cheaper courses to fulfill prerequisites to get into colleges offering bachelor programs and more prestigious titles. “Harvard on the Hill” was known for three things; a jump start for getting into the 4-year program of choice at a different school, a great place to take classes like Yoga or Painting during the winter seasons, and a place to go to school on the side of your real job; skiing.
It seems though, that the Alpine Campus of CMC is taking steps to dismiss these former presumptions, and is working hard with the 11 other Colorado Mountain Colleges to really push for bachelor programs and earn itself both better standing in the community and compete with other public colleges. The Colorado Commission on Higher Education approved 5 programs for CMC campuses; Steamboat will see two of them as early as next fall. The planned degrees will be a Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability Studies (which works great in Steamboat), and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. The latter is such a popular degree for Generation Y that the school and community will no doubt benefit from its instillation, as will the minds of younger generations who hope to enjoy school alongside their skiing pursuits in Steamboat Colorado.
Read the Steamboat Pilot’s article for more information.
