To provide area residents interested in obtaining a masters of social work degree from Tulane University, Nicholls has agreed to house the program on campus beginning this fall in Ayo Hall. The program will not have any affiliation with Nicholls other than the fact that the classes will be held on campus, Monica Oncale, associate professor of Family and Consumer Sciences, said.

“What Nicholls has agreed to do is allow Tulane to lease space on campus. So it is not going to be in partnership. It is not a part of a Nicholls curriculum. It is not like we are sponsoring it,” Oncale said. Because Nicholls is simply housing the program, there will not be any expenditures on the University’s part.

“In the first semester, Nicholls will benefit strictly from the lease aspect,” Oncale said.

The idea to house the program at Nicholls came from requests from both community members and Nicholls students.

“There were local professionals in the community identifying a desire and a want to pursue a master’s degree in social work,” Oncale said.

“We also had students graduating in FACS who were interested in pursuing a master’s degree in social work and they were not really interested in traveling.”

Housing the program at Nicholls will make graduate school more accessible to residents of Lafourche, Terrebonne, Assumption, and St. Mary parishes, Oncale said. This is beneficial to people who have professional or family obligations and cannot travel to New Orleans or Baton Rouge where the program is currently offered, she said.

“We are excited about giving people in the region the option to continue their education,” Oncale said.

After talking with interested Nicholls students, Oncale contacted Tulane about housing the program at Nicholls, and Tulane showed interest in the idea. Faculty members also contacted LSU; however “they already satellite their MSW program to other universities and did not show a strong interest at the time,” Oncale said.

The courses will be offered on a part-time basis with two evening courses being offered in the fall semester.

“We are thinking that the population that will be drawn to the area are people who are already working in the field and may have commitments and just want to better educate themselves,” Oncale said. After obtaining a master’s degree, one can take administrative positions or run a private practice.

Because it is a Tulane program and degree, students will be required to pay private school tuition. In an attempt to offset some of these costs, a scholarship committee was commissioned to secure funding, Oncale said. The goal of the committee is to enable students to earn a degree from Tulane while paying what they normally would at a state university.

The community will benefit from this because one of the requirements is that students complete internships, though not in their first or second semesters, Oncale said.

On Tuesday, Feb. 19, an informational meeting will be held in 127 FACS for interested students. Representatives from Tulane will be available to discuss the program plans, application procedures, financial aid, scholarship programs and to answer any other questions concerning the “Tulane at NSU MSW program,” Oncale said.