Alison Wienberg, 47, currently works for Power Packaging in St. Charles. Her job is to set up vendors, make sure they get paid and organize other projects within their finance department. She had originally started in accounting payroll for the company.

She is enrolled in her fifth class with Columbia College of Missouri, and is working towards a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Human Resources.

“It’s pretty much an accomplishment for me that I did something at my age, but also in today’s job market when you look at entry-level jobs, it’s always listed you need a degree,” Wienberg said.

Columbia has partnered with Elgin Community College for, an upcoming, 18 years to provide local bachelor and master’s degrees, as well as certificates, to both traditional and mostly non-traditional students. Classes are hosted at ECC.

“Our intent was to offer a bachelor’s degree option for students attending the community college and for returning adult students in the community,” Karen Beckstrom, director of the partnership, said. “So that they could live near home, stay at home if they’re young students, and not have to go away from school; and to utilize their resources of both schools so students could make a nice smooth transition from an associate degree to a bachelor’s degree.”

According to Beckstrom, Columbia has a history of being innovative and focusing on non-traditional students.

“We were the first school [West] of the Mississippi to admit women, and that was because the University of Missouri would not admit women,” Beckstrom said.

The college’s first class was in 1851, and had only six students. It remained a two-year all-female college until 1970, when it became a four-year co-ed program, Robert Allare, the campus admissions manager and recruiter, said.

“During that time, oddly enough, we actually started working with the military and started teaching classes on military bases,” Allare said. “Everybody else was running away from them for the reason because of Vietnam.”

Columbia was one of the first college’s to branch out to the military around 1973, and still teach on military bases, including Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Allare teaches history at the Great Lakes naval base north of Chicago.

“And then in the early 2000s we did online, which was a new concept at that time,” Allare said. “I can’t say that we’re always leading the charge, but we’re pretty innovative in that.”

The Columbia-ECC partnership was made to take on their more recent frontier of non-traditional students – adults.

Allare and Beckstrom said they notice a majority of students taking classes will be non-traditional students, such as retired veterans and other adults who may already have an established career in the work force, like Wienberg.

Columbia has helped further the careers of St. Charles Police Chief Jim Lamkin and Cecil E. Smith, deputy chief of Elgin.

“We have adults who are maybe reestablishing a new career,” Beckstrom said. “Or want to get skills for a new job because they want to reenter the work force. There’s lots of situations that we see with adults. Or just have lots of credit, and they’re working, and they want to get closure on having a bachelor’s because their employer will give them a raise or will promote them.”

Because of the majority of non-traditional students, the college’s in-seat courses are only offered in the evenings from 6 to 10 p.m., to cater to students that work during the day. Each course is an eight week session.

“With working full time and trying to manage things at home, having Columbia right here in my backyard, I mean, it’s a great college and it’s nice that it’s accessible to me and it’s not taking up a lot more of my time,” Wienberg said. “A few times they’ve offered Saturday classes and that’s a little bit easier on my schedule; even though I’m giving up a Saturday.”

Jetmira Asani, an almost two-year Columbia student, is aspiring for a bachelor’s degree in business and a human resource certificate. Her ideal job after receiving her education is to work in human resource management.

She is currently a preschool teacher at KinderCare in Batavia. On a school day, she works in the morning and comes to class on her way home.

“I love it, but the pay isn’t really where I want to be at,” Asani said. “And I would like to be in management, better position, better pay.”

After receiving Wienberg’s bachelors, she wants to move around in her company

“I don’t know if with my HR degree if I want to maybe circle back and look at [payroll],” Wienberg said. “And what’s nice about our organization, we’re owned by DHL and we’re global. So I have plenty of opportunities to move around and see what best fits me.”

Columbia appealed to Wienberg and Asani initially because of the college’s proximity, price and guiding faculty. Both students said Karen has been a great help with navigating their goals.

“It’s the same group of teachers that you really get to know,” Asani said. “It’s really nice because then you build a relationship with them, and everybody gets to know each other, basically it’s a family.”

According to Wienberg, the average in-seat class size is seven to 10 students, which she states to be noticeably smaller than the classes she has taken at ECC.

“It’s been a relatively nice small group that in eight weeks you make connections,” Wienberg said.

But the small groups can have drawbacks.

“I like smaller class sizes because you really can dive into the material. But then on the flipside it’s nice to have a larger class because you have more diversity,” Wienberg said. “But they’re both win-wins.”

Beckstrom oversees the partnership ECC has with Columbia. She helps advise the college’s students by evaluating their transcripts, schedules and course plan.

Columbia offers three types of courses, in-seat, online and hybrid. Every course is an eight-week long session, which is quick and fast-paced, Asani said.

At first, the college only offers students the choice of one class per session, but there are exceptions.

“You can take two classes if your grade point average is good,” Asani said. “They’ll sometimes allow you to take three. I’ve done three multiple times. It’s hard but if you put your mind to it, it can be done.”

According to Beckstrom, the college will take 81 transferable credit hours from ECC and other affiliated colleges. They also offer waivers for students completing an associate degree at ECC, or other locations, to make the transition of completing a four year degree as smooth and seamless as possible.

“We want a nice option for them,” Beckstrom said. “That allows them to contribute to their community to improve their lives and just be contributing citizens in Elgin, and the area.”

On campus a student can accomplish a degree in business administration, criminal justice administration and human services.

Within the business degree, there are majors such as accounting, financing, entrepreneurship and sports management. Most of the core classes for this degree will be available in a classroom, but some will have to be taken online.

“I have taken a few online classes and depending on what the subject matter is kind of determines is that something I really want to try on my own; where at least sitting in class I can hear other students talk, and go ‘oh, now I got it,’” Wienberg said.

The online platform has more degree options as well, such as psychology, American studies and computer information systems.

Unlike community colleges, Columbia’s tuition rate is not affected by districts.

“You can go to any of the campuses that they have if you want to and some people do that because we’re dealing with non-traditional students that might be working during the day, and they might be working in Woodstock or Gurney, and they’re like ‘wow I can pick up a class right after, but I live in the community here,’” Allare said.

Columbia also has articulation agreements, which are transferable credits from, Harper Community College, ECC, McHenry County College and Waubonsee.

Other Columbia campus locations span around 13 states. Locally, they host other courses at Crystal Lake, Lake County, and Highland Community College, Allare said.

*&*LANCE HAS PHOTOS!! I also have photos that I don’t know how to put on here so i’ll send them to Lance’s email.