What happened:
Commonwealth University is now offering 20 credits to all members of the Pennsylvania State Police, both past and present. The credits will count towards an associate or bachelor’s degree in the criminal justice pathway.
Why it matters:
Hope Lineman, the Executive Director of Workforce Development, spoke about the university’s goals for offering the 20 credits, describing it as creating a funnel of new, adult, and non-traditional learners to degree pathways.
“Through Commonwealth University, we have really been focused on meeting learners and students where they’re at,” Lineman said.
When looking at the Pennsylvania State Police, they recognized that they could not fill all of their employment needs as part of the workforce.
On top of that many State Troopers, they retire around the ages of 41 and 46. “Obviously not done working,” Lineman said. “So those troopers that are nearing that time frame, we know that in order to move up into higher-paying positions…they do need that degree.”
Describing the benefits of the program, she said, “It allows the state police to reduce the barrier of the degree requirement and increase their hiring pool.” Going further, she said, “It reduces that time to completion of the degree barrier and financial needs.”
However, the state police soon won’t be the only industry to benefit from the university’s offering of 20 credits.
Lineman explained there were plans to expand the program into more industries, saying, “For example, emergency medical technicians. We’ve already looked at that training and have it approved in a health science pathway.” She also revealed they had been looking at some early childhood education even at the high school level in the career and technology centers into the teacher education pathway.
“It is an avenue to meet a different population of learners and show them an easy pathway into their next step.”
