A few days ago
Bruce Tzu

Will a fully accredited online Masters degree be enough to find a community college teaching position?

I’m thinking of going to Golden Gate University online program and when I’m done I will have two Masters Degrees one in finance and one in industrial psychology. The online degree is accredit by the WASC. I also have an undergraduate degree from a highly regarded institution. My work experience is relevant and somewhat impressive. I’m wondering if potential community colleges will discount my online degree? What will my prospects be like?

Top 5 Answers
A few days ago
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Favorite Answer

I am going to be quite honest with you.

There is very little chance that you will ever be hired to teach at a community college with an online degree.

Academia still looks askance at degrees (especially graduate degrees) that are not earned in residence, while being closely supervised by noted scholars in your field of study.

I realize that GGU is WASC accredited, but honestly, at the graduate level, mere accreditation is meaningless. Reputation of one’s program (in terms of scholarly rigor) means everything.

If you wish to teach finance, your work experience in finance will serve you well, given community college hiring practices in that area. There is currently a high demand for finance professors, and substantial work experience is highly valued in this field. However, you should also hold a degree in finance that is earned in residence through a highly reputable department.

As to industrial psychology, even if your work experience is in this field, you will need at least an MA in psychology to teach this at the community college level. Many of your competitors will hold the PhD, so if you do not, your work experience in this area should be substantial.

I wish you success.

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A few days ago
Tarheel Girl 08
Generally speaking, community colleges, normally require a masters degree in the subject you want to teach or a masters degree and 18 semester credit hours in the subject. Some community colleges will accept BS degrees for development or foundation courses. It depends on the program and the community college and what their requirements are for instructors. I would contact the colleges you want to work for and either call to find out what their requirements are for teaching or look on their websites for job announcements, that normally liste the requirements. You could also try the continuing education departments at some of the colleges.
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A few days ago
jdmramon
Hmm I do not have very much experience in this, But as long as it is a fully accredited degree, I dont think they have a choice but to look at it as a normal masters, and with two masters you should have no problem landing a job as a professor at a community college.
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A few days ago
Mamapie2u
Call the headquarters for the community college district and ask.
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A few days ago
gs_analyst
Who is exactly is the accrediting agency? GGU is another diploma mill What is the WASC?
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