New BSW From COSC

[carrythenothing]

CSWE doesn't accredit associate's level programs, so I don't think they'd accept social work credit from a community college.

[Jonathan Whatley]

WGU's degrees in teaching and nursing aren't accepted in every state.

Are you sure on both points? "WGU's Teachers College online degree programs will help prepare you for teaching certification in any of the 50 states," WGU states here, with further information state-by-state.

The nursing program is only offered to students resident and taking practicums in certain states where WGU has clinical sites, but whereas I've heard over the years of several states disqualifying or adding additional requirements on Excelsior entry-level nursing graduates, I haven't yet heard that about WGU.

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CSWE doesn't accredit associate's level programs, so I don't think they'd accept social work credit from a community college.

It appears to be a well-established practice that Connecticut community college social work credit can transfer to CSWE-accredited bachelor's in social work programs at Connecticut state universities.

[ss20ts]

WGU's degrees in teaching and nursing aren't accepted in every state.

Are you sure on both points? "WGU's Teachers College online degree programs will help prepare you for teaching certification in any of the 50 states," WGU states here, with further information state-by-state.

The nursing program is only offered to students resident and taking practicums in certain states where WGU has clinical sites, but whereas I've heard over the years of several states disqualifying or adding additional requirements on Excelsior entry-level nursing graduates, I haven't yet heard that about WGU.

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CSWE doesn't accredit associate's level programs, so I don't think they'd accept social work credit from a community college.

It appears to be a well-established practice that Connecticut community college social work credit can transfer to CSWE-accredited bachelor's in social work programs at Connecticut state universities.

Key word for the teaching degree is prepare. Doesn't say you can become licensed. In my state there are 2 licenses that are required to teach and a master's degree that has to meet very special requirements. I've talked with a few people who found out that the WGU degrees didn't work for the certifications here. 


The nursing degrees are not offered in all states. Seems to go along with my previous post. 


If you look at the courses in this associate degree there aren't any social work courses. Intro to Human Services is the only courses that's related which is required. 

https://www.ct.edu/files/tap/SW.NCCC.pdf

[carrythenothing]

WGU's degrees in teaching and nursing aren't accepted in every state.

Are you sure on both points? "WGU's Teachers College online degree programs will help prepare you for teaching certification in any of the 50 states," WGU states here, with further information state-by-state.

The nursing program is only offered to students resident and taking practicums in certain states where WGU has clinical sites, but whereas I've heard over the years of several states disqualifying or adding additional requirements on Excelsior entry-level nursing graduates, I haven't yet heard that about WGU.

I like the way that WGU presents the state-by-state licensure options for teachers. It's very clear.

Yes, for people who aren't already licensed, the nursing program could work if you live in Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, or Utah: https://www.wgu.edu/online-nursing-healt...ogram.html

CSWE doesn't accredit associate's level programs, so I don't think they'd accept social work credit from a community college.

It appears to be a well-established practice that Connecticut community college social work credit can transfer to CSWE-accredited bachelor's in social work programs at Connecticut state universities.

That seems to be the case if you're going through the transfer ticket process, but 1. The classes required of the AA/AS program trends toward cognate courses and 2. I wouldn't expect to take standalone classes and have them accepted as part of the BSW major.

[Jonathan Whatley]

The nursing degrees are not offered in all states.

I think every program to enter nursing will only have clinical training sites in one or just a few states. There's a big difference between that and the proposition that a program's graduates aren't licensable in every state.

[dfrecore]

WGU's degrees in teaching and nursing aren't accepted in every state.

Are you sure on both points? "WGU's Teachers College online degree programs will help prepare you for teaching certification in any of the 50 states," WGU states here, with further information state-by-state.

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Key word for the teaching degree is prepare. Doesn't say you can become licensed. In my state there are 2 licenses that are required to teach and a master's degree that has to meet very special requirements. I've talked with a few people who found out that the WGU degrees didn't work for the certifications here. 

It really depends on what your state requires.  I have a bachelor's degree, and never planned on teaching.  Now that I'm considering it, I just looked up my state requirements: I have to go through an alternative licensing program.  I signed up and started.

Most states do not have a specific degree or specific requirements for degrees without offering an alternative for people that have bachelor's degrees already and want to become teachers.

[ss20ts]

The nursing degrees are not offered in all states.

I think every program to enter nursing will only have clinical training sites in one or just a few states. There's a big difference between that and the proposition that a program's graduates aren't licensable in every state.

From WGU's website:
WGU's B.S. Nursing Prelicensure degree program is currently available in only the following states:

PRELICENSURE thus it leads to a license. 

Again from WGU's website:
The B.S. Nursing (Prelicensure) program is currently offered in Florida, Indiana, Texas, and Utah. 

The MSN Family Nurse Practitioner program is currently offered in all states except the following: California, District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, and U.S. Territories.
The MSN Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program is currently offered in all states except the following: Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington, Wisconsin, and U.S. Territories.

You cannot get a license with a WGU degree in these programs in my state that's why it's listed. 

[Alpha]

I can't imagine a world in which the CSWE let's the major requirements be through alternative credits.

I agree, it's highly unlikely.  And even less likely from a school still seeking accreditation. Since the CT state system has several other BSW/MSW programs actively accredited and running it would seem likely that COSC will get over that hurdle.

[studyingfortests]

I don't see anything appealing about this program at present. There are plenty of well-established BSW online programs that are fully accredited by CSWE and are less expensive.

Are any of those comparably flexible to Charter Oak as to letting gen ed and non-major elective requirements be met by transfer or alt-credit?

Yes and no.  Transfer credit, yes, lots of BSW programs do.  Alt credit... that's a good question.   CSWE has historically had pretty strict requirements and has so far not looked too fondly on non-traditional approaches to credit-earning or degree completion.

That being said, for students pursuing a non-advanced standing MSW (2 or 3 year program), CSWE does not have any problem with an undergraduate degree earned partially or almost entirely from alt credit. And there's really no difference I suppose between allowing admission to a master's program to someone with an alt-credit undergrad in liberal studies, on the one hand, and allowing those alt credits to go into a BSW.

But the bigger concern for me at the moment is that the program isn't even in pre-candidacy yet. It's a long road from pre-candidacy to full programmatic accreditation, and so students who do go alt-credit and finish their COSC BSW in 2 years may find that they have to sit on their hands for a few years before they will be able to do anything with it, as the degree probably won't get programmatic accreditation for 3 or 4 years, I would guess.

Once it's accredited, it might be a decent option, but it looks like it will still be spendy compared to getting a generic alt credit degree from UMPI or TESU or Excelsior and then going for a 2 year non-advanced standing MSW.

[carrythenothing]

But the bigger concern for me at the moment is that the program isn't even in pre-candidacy yet. It's a long road from pre-candidacy to full programmatic accreditation, and so students who do go alt-credit and finish their COSC BSW in 2 years may find that they have to sit on their hands for a few years before they will be able to do anything with it, as the degree probably won't get programmatic accreditation for 3 or 4 years, I would guess.

Important notes on retroactive recognition in the CSWE status language: https://www.cswe.org/accreditation/accre...editation/

• "Students who enter programs in Pre-Candidacy that attain Candidacy in the academic year in which they begin their program of study will be retroactively recognized as having graduated from a CSWE-accredited program once the program attains Initial Accreditation"
  
• "Students who enter programs that attain Candidacy in or before the academic year in which they begin their program of study will be retroactively recognized as having graduated from a CSWE-accredited program once the program attains Initial Accreditation."
  

So if COSC succeeds in "actively work[ing] to obtain CSWE pre-candidacy status for Fall 2022," they'd still need to gain candidacy status that same academic year (in order for students entering in 2022 to eventually get retroactive recognition).