Nicholls’ online English degree ranked second most affordable

Nicholls’ online Bachelor of Arts in English was nationally recognized as the second most affordable online program in the country by the website nonprofitcollegesonline.com.

According to the website, “For our 2015-2016 Online Bachelor’s in English and writing award winners, we selected online programs from accredited, nonprofit colleges and universities with objectively lower than average tuition cost and have ranked the programs according to their affordability.”

Tuition for the Nicholls’ online English program costs approximately $33,000 and has a six-year graduation rate of about 42 percent.

Andrew Simoncelli, director of distance education, said, “Nicholls online is $275 per credit hour. Our price range is set where they pay a set fee per class, because a lot of Nicholls online students are not just out of high school. They may come here just needing two or five classes.”

Although affordability was the primary criteria of the ranking, the website also made sure the schools were accredited universities or colleges that met the needs of their students.

The English Online Program, which is SACS accredited, requires students to complete 120 hours before graduating and offers a wide range of courses to choose from.

Students have the opportunity to study American, World and British Literature and concentrate on literary genres which include: short fiction, drama, poetry, film, and novels. English majors are also encouraged to focus on special English topics such as specific authors, grammar, linguistics and professional and creative writing.

Dr. Ellen Barker, head of the English department, explained that most online English instructors have their Ph.D. and are professors in the traditional classroom setting at Nicholls. In addition, Nicholls has employed a few out-of-state instructors to teach Nicholls’ Online English exclusively.

Collectively, the program has about 40 instructors, all of whom are monitored by the English Department.

“We are allowed into the instructors’ Moodle pages so that can be aware of what they are doing and what is being taught,” Barker said. “But they are all doing excellent work with the program.”
She explained that students enrolled in the English online program are typically non-traditional students from the South.

“Several students choose to have full-time jobs, others have family obligations or live too far away,” Barker said. “We’re also noticing that we are getting more and more students from Southern states like Texas, some from Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and even, Arkansas.”

Among the various undergraduate and graduate degrees it offers, Nicholls’ Online has 391 students. About 30 of them are currently enrolled in the online English program.

The Department of Languages and Literature anticipates the addition of a Spanish minor to the Nicholls online program, which will expand their course offerings and concentrations.

Barker said, “We are hoping to have a professional and creative writing concentration. We think it will expand interest.”

Simoncelli also noted that another Nicholls online program received recognition through publications.

Nicholls’ online Bachelor of Arts in History degree program was ranked 12 out of 20 online History programs in the country by thebestschools.org website.
The College Values Online website also considered the program the fourth best value college in 2016.

“I wasn’t surprised because I know we do good work here at Nicholls and our prices are relatively low compared to the rest of the country,” Simoncelli said. “I guess I was just surprised that these publications find out about us down here in Thibodaux, Louisiana.”