Hudson Center opens for night class

The Adult Degree Completion Program­—offered through the College of Business and Economics—is up and running, along with the Hudson Center.

The program is designed to help adult students finish their four-year degrees. This is the first semester that the Adult Degree Completion Program has been offered at UW-River Falls, according to the Adult Degree Completion Program Coordinator, Michael Bilden.

The program offers evening classes, provides courses in an online format and provides assistance to accomplish degree requirements.
“[This program] is a program that individualizes degree planning. It is about finding out where the adult is at with their degree completion and finding the shortest path for them to achieve a degree,” Bilden said.

Participants can take a combination of classes at the UWRF campus, online and at the Hudson Center. The Hudson Center, located in the Carley Ponds office building off of Hanley Avenue, is a UWRF property, according to the Dean of the College of Business and Economics, Glenn Potts.

“CBE has two programs in the center that help generate revenue to cover the costs. The plan is for the Hudson Center to have revenue that is greater than or equal to the cost of the center next year. It is not taking away from any programs or services on campus. The start-up costs were funded by the UW-System,” Potts said in an email.

The focus of this program is mainly on evening courses. The courses are in eight week sessions, one night a week from 6 to 10 p.m., according to Bilden. This program has a separate tuition rate, according to Bilden. A three credit course costs $1,179.25.

There are currently two classes being offered for the program: micro and macro economics. These two classes are required courses for the business major and are courses that many of the Adult Degree Completion Program students entering this fall need to have, according to Potts. The number of courses will expand to four offered for the spring semester, according to Bilden.

There has been a good response to this program so far, according to Bilden.

“We are right on track regarding the demand for this program. By the end of this year, we should have 40 students involved in this program,” Bilden said.

This program was created in adjunct to the More Degrees for Wisconsin Initiative, according to Bilden. Illinois and Minnesota both have a larger number of adults with a four-year degree than Wisconsin. Wisconsin needed to address this and become more competitive, according to Potts. Because of this initiative, UWRF came up with the Adult Degree Completion Program to help Wisconsin increase its number of adults with four-year degrees to become more economically competitive.

“The program creates structure and a support system that is convenient and attractive to adults to come back to school and get their degrees,” Potts said. “[Adults] are just as worthy as 18-year-olds to go to school. They deserve the opportunity to complete their degree without it being impossible.”

According to Potts, the program is designed to make certain that the adults have help to complete their degree.

The adults have access to services, individualized advising and degree planning, according to Bilden.

A future option for the program includes a prior learning assessment option. This means that adults could receive credit for previous schooling that they had already had. The option would also take into account previous experience an adult has.

“An adult could have lots of experience in their area, they just don’t have the degree to go with it,” Bilden said.

Feedback on the Hudson Center has been very positive, according to Potts.

“The facility has modern classrooms, is attractive, has good parking, is a secure building and is in a great location,” Potts said.

There are three classrooms in the Hudson Center. The largest classroom has a 48 person capacity. The two smaller classrooms have a 22 and 24 person capacity.

There is an informational meeting about the Adult Degree Completion Program at 6 p.m. on Oct. 26 at the Hudson Center.