CSC to offer reduced-credit-hour Education degree

Designed to meet the changing needs of students and to address a shortage of teachers, the new program provides an expedited path to teacher certification while responding to the workforce needs in Nebraska and the High Plains region, according to CSC’s Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Kimberly Paddock-O’Reilly.

“Innovation in higher education isn’t optional anymore – it is how we keep a college degree attainable, affordable, and relevant to the communities we serve,” Paddock-O’Reilly said. “Nebraska and the High Plains region are facing a teacher shortage that mirrors what is happening across the country, and our reduced-credit Applied Education degree is a direct, practical response to it.”

The reduced-credit Applied Education degree will not replace CSC’s traditional Education degrees, which remain available. Instead, it provides another pathway for students whose goals do not require the additional elective opportunities included in a traditional bachelor’s degree. Required education coursework, academic rigor and expectations, and state certification requirements remain the same as those of CSC’s traditional teacher preparation programs.

“This is ultimately about creating more ways for students to become well-prepared teachers,” Paddock-O’Reilly said. “Our traditional programs remain important, and this new pathway gives us another way to serve students and school districts whose needs are changing.”

Nebraska’s 2024-25 Teacher Vacancy Report identified 669 unfilled teaching positions statewide, including 150 special education vacancies, according to the Nebraska Department of Education. The number of unfilled positions represented a 52 percent increase compared with the state’s final pre-pandemic report.

Regional and state education leaders expressed support for the new degree during its approval process.

“The benefits of this program are substantial,” wrote Aaron Plas, superintendent of Bennington Public Schools, in a letter supporting the proposal. “The ability to provide a rigorous, high-quality degree in fewer credit hours will expand access to the teaching profession, attract more candidates to critical shortage areas, and ultimately strengthen the quality of education we can offer our students.”

The program is particularly suited to school employees, such as paraprofessionals, who want to become certified teachers. CSC has partnered with school districts on grow your own initiatives that help employees earn teaching credentials while continuing to work in their communities and aims to increase the number of partnerships through the new degree pathways.

CSC will begin offering the Applied Education degree, which is available fully online or in a hybrid format, in the spring 2027 semester. The Elementary Education option requires 95 credit hours, while the Special Education Generalist (K-12) requires 96 credit hours.

The Applied Education degree is one of only six reduced-credit education programs nationwide, and the only one specifically designed for special education certification, Paddock-O’Reilly said.

For more information on the Bachelor of Science in Applied Education degree with options in Elementary Education (K-6) and Special Education Generalist (K-12), contact Admissions at admissions@csc.edu or 308-432-6475.