Satellite campuses offer educational options, flexibility

Columbia-area residents looking for higher education with lower costs, flexible scheduling and targeted degree and course offerings might want to consider Moberly Area Community College and William Woods University as options.
Both institutions have campuses in Columbia, the community college at 1805 E. Walnut and William Woods at 3100 Falling Leaf Lane.
With the University of Missouri, Columbia College and Stephens College located here, some think the area is already saturated. But MACC and William Woods fill niches, particularly for working adults.
Accessibility is one key to success for Moberly Area Community College.
“We have an open-door policy,” Michele McCall, dean of off-campus activities, explained.
MACC opened a Columbia campus to facilitate reaching students in its 16-county service area.
“There was a serious need for affordable, accessible education,” she added.
In 1999, the community college opened its campus in Columbia, with 56 students studying childhood education that fall. Classes moved to the current site in 2006. Currently, about 1,200 students take classes on the Columbia campus.

Moberly Area Community College Columbia Campus

Depending on degree or certification requirements, students can take advantage of flexible scheduling on MACC’s six sites.
“A lot of students work, so they will take classes among the campuses to fit their educational goals,” McCall said.
It can be a starting point for students who want a transition from high school into a university. MACC draws traditional students or recent high school graduates, and non-traditional students, those who decide to seek higher education after being in the workforce for a while.
Targeting the working adult, William Woods University began offering its graduate and adult studies program in Columbia in 1993, with one classroom that fall.
“It just exploded from there,” said Terry Culver, director of the Columbia and Jefferson City sites. The program now uses 11 classrooms, used Monday through Thursday evenings and Saturdays, he said.
The graduate and adult studies program focuses on business, several business specialties and education. It attracts students generally in the 30- to 40-year-old range, but older individuals also are enrolled. Culver recently talked with a woman in her 50s who is interested in pursuing an associate’s degree. Classes include a larger percentage of female students than males now than in the past.
“When the economy gets bad, and people are worried about their jobs, they tend to go back to school,” he said. “We are already seeing an increase in the number of interested individuals for our fall semester.”
The university’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree programs for agribusiness, accounting, human resources and health management also attract working adults.
“Several will go into the master’s programs…especially in business…. Many go into education… to become a teacher, coach, principal, or even for the specialist program to become a superintendent,” Culver said.
Area residents have many higher education options, including online degrees offered through out-of-state institutions, such as the University of Phoenix, but McCall and Culver say their programs can compete.
“We’re not having a bit of trouble…. We think it is because of the way our curriculum is set up,” Culver said.
He believes working adults want more face-to-face and hands-on interaction than most online classes and some traditional courses offer.

Students sit in the graphic arts/fine arts gallery at Moberly Area Community College in Moberly.

“We are more geared to working with working adults in the real world,” Culver said. “They come away at the end of class at 10 p.m. and are able to use what they learned the next morning at work.”
MACC includes several online courses as part of its degree and certification plans. Again, McCall pointed to affordability and flexibility as its competitive edge.
Since, rising fuel costs could slow or halt progress toward educational goals for some students, MACC administrators are examining possibilities to reconfigure schedules to maximize student time.
They are considering restructuring course schedules and adding more hybrid classes — half online and half in the classroom. “And we are adding to our online schedule,” McCall said.
“We are trying to adapt to help our students deal with that,” she said. v
For more information, visit Moberly Area Community College at www.macc.edu, and William Woods University at www.williamwoods.edu.