Our region is enjoying a period of historically low unemployment. Many in our community are choosing to work full time and defer higher education for later. It is easy to understand their decision, but they should not need to decide between one and the other.

At the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, we strive to provide higher education opportunities to the working adults of Manatee and Sarasota Counties that enhance their lives and careers. Today’s job might not be a career opportunity. SCF can provide the pathway that turns a job into a profession through an associate degree or a workforce bachelor’s degree.

The challenge is to design a program that fits the needs of working adults. Higher education must fit into your life, not disrupt it. Online learning is convenient for some, but many students prefer face-to-face experiences in the classroom and interactions with a professor. Timing is also important—working adults cannot be on campus between 8am and 5pm Monday through Friday. Our goal is to create a program that makes it easy for students to access education. The hardest part of higher education should be what happens in the classroom, not the process it takes to get there.

SCF’s solution is the Weekend College—“college when YOU can.” Working adults in our region are place-bound by job and family. They cannot leave the region to pursue higher education and do not have the resources to pay for an expensive degree. Full-time employment is required to take care of their families and responsibilities, but they know that a college degree is essential to their future success. Weekend College gives working adults access to an affordable education at a convenient time.

Our Weekend College provides the opportunity to earn an Associate in Arts degree in two years by going full time on Friday nights and Saturdays through classes at our Lakewood Ranch campus and online. The program consists of three terms each year with classes lasting eight, 12 or 16 weeks. Our full-time enrollment consists of three to four classes each term. Students can attend part time as well.

The Associate in Arts curriculum provides a student with all the general education requirements needed to move on to a bachelor’s degree program. Associates degree graduates are guaranteed admission to one of SCF workforce bachelor’s degree programs or to a Florida state university.

Like all our programs, Weekend College is also an economical choice for students. Tuition at SCF is about half that of a state university and a quarter or less of the cost of many private, online schools.

Enrollment for the Fall 2018 term is open now for SCF’s Weekend College at SCF.edu/Admissions and many applications have already been submitted.

Students have many choices when it comes to higher education. At SCF, our goal is to create the educational opportunity that meets the time, location and financial needs of the students in our community. Weekend College provides us one more way to meet that goal. SCF”s Weekend College – it’s college when YOU can.

Dr. Carol Probstfeld is president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota