USU Eastern offers unique courses, degrees
With the merging of the former College of Eastern Utah and USU came the merging of school credits for the two universities.
Vice Chancellor of USU Eastern Greg Benson said, “Everything we do at CEU is now USU. There is not even an issue of credits transferring, because all credits are now USU credits.”
The merging of credits means students could easily transfer from Logan campus to USU Eastern or vice versa, without having to worry about credits transferring, Benson said. Credits earned in Price, Vernal, Moab and other regional campuses are the same credits as Logan campus credits, including USU Eastern, he added.
The ability to switch between universities provides several benefits for students, Benson said.
“Tuition for a full year at USU Eastern is roughly half of what students pay in Logan,” he said. “It was decided to retain the community college tuition rate for the first two years, then once you move past those first two years, you pay off the regular USU rates for the upper-division courses.”
Benson said it could benefit students to transfer to USU Eastern for one or more semesters in order to save money while completing their lower-division courses. Aside from saving money, Benson said, transferring to USU Eastern could be beneficial in multiple ways.
“You’re not going to find everything in Price that you find in Logan, but degrees like business, biology, education, math education, psychology, wildlife science, social work, associate degrees, minors and certificates (are offered).”
In addition to many of the same degrees offered at the Logan campus, USU Eastern offers a selection of certifications and technical degrees not necessarily offered at USU, Benson said.
“This brings something into USU that wasn’t there before,” Benson said. “At USU Eastern there’s automotive technology, welding, heavy equipment trucking, cosmetology, nursing, and it’s where you come and get intensive study in a career and technical field.”
He said students in the school’s welding program routinely place first in state competitions, and sometimes go on to national and international competitions.
Other than welding, Benson said, the last two years, two students won state and national competitions for radio broadcasting.
Something else USU Eastern offers is the division of workforce education, Benson said. “Those are non-credit offerings that are more geared to short term and very focused kinds of job training. We have several hundred students a semester enroll in these courses. It’s intense and it’s shortened. We do a lot of training and re-training of coal miners.”
Another benefit of attending USU Eastern is the geographical location of the campus, which provides students an opportunity to study geology, archeology and paleontology, he said.
Regional Campus and Distance Education Vice President Justin Watkins said he feels the policy is sound.
“Really, there was nothing negative that came out of it. The change is good because now they get to take USU classes, and they get funding,” Watkins said, “It gives them more ability to do things.”
Director of the Office of Analysis, Assessment and Accreditation Michael Torrens said enrollment at USU Eastern for fall of 2011 was 2,323 students with 106 transfers to the school.
– amber.murdoch@aggiemail.usu.edu