Western’s graduate program thrives

By Jesse Bilderback

Missouri Western State University is excited about their growing graduate school.

Their graduate school offers several Master’s degrees in applied science, media, communication and nursing. Missouri Western’s graduate school is growing fast both in degrees offered and student enrollment. In 2009 the school had 70 students compared to 129 in 2010.

Brian Cronk, interim dean of graduate studies, is pleased with the dramatic increase in student enrollment. “The school is very excited about the number of students enrolling in our programs” Cronk said.

Missouri Western’s graduate school is perfect for people who currently have a full-time career and/or degree.

One goal of the graduate school Cronk said was to schedule all the courses after 4:30 p.m. so if someone is working they will still be able to attend.

“In addition to afternoon classes, we try to schedule the graduate courses just a couple nights a week,” Cronk said.

Cronk said how this was aimed at accommodating people who may be traveling from out of town or have a full-time job and family.

The school is leading the way in offering graduate degrees that can be used in the Saint Joseph area. Requests from local businesses can often determine what graduate programs will be offered.

“This process can be very lengthy and it is not uncommon for it to take 1-2 years for an approval from the state,” Provost Jeanne Daffron said.

A lot of planning goes into determining what graduate programs will be offered. One thing Missouri Western strongly takes into consideration is having a professor that is currently on staff and qualified, run the graduate program.

This should be beneficial to current undergraduate students planning on attending Missouri Western’s Graduate school because they will already have a familiar relationship with the professor.

Students wanting to attend graduate school should be pleased with the affordability of Missouri Western’s cost for graduate school. The cost is $285.00 per credit hour, which is only a 32.5 percent increase from the undergraduate cost of $215.00 per credit hour.

Students thinking of graduate school in the future may want to look into Missouri Western’s programs and see if they have anything available in their field of study.