SVGCC graduates attest to creditability of Associate’s degree

Two recent graduates of the Associate’s degree programme at the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC) have stepped forward to testify as to the utility of their degrees.

Arielle Junielle Quow-James, who attended the Division of Technical and Vocational Education of the SVGCC from 2010, graduated in 2012 with an Associate’s degree in Business Studies (Accounting). Quow-James said after leaving the SVGCC, she applied to Monroe College, New York.{{more}}

“Their registrar reviewed my transcipt from the SVGCC in September 2014, two years after I had completed my degree in SVG. I was given 57 transfer credits off my 126 credit degree programme here at Monroe,” she said in a written statement.

Additionally, according to Quow-James, she saved over EC$74,000 by attending the SVGCC.

“Let me add some maths to this: Monroe College charges approximately US$7,000 for 15 credits a semester, which is about EC$18,690.

“So I paid $530 in my time to do my associates degree; those 57 credits at Monroe would have cost me $74000+ EC dollars.

“The degree is certainly worth more than the paper it is printed on. And we need these statements corrected and Vincentians need not to accept it,” she said.

Also speaking favourably about the Associate’s degree programme at the SVGCC is Feona Dacon-Clarke, who was a part-time student in the SVGCC’s first Associate’s degree in Business Studies programme delivered from the Division of Arts, Sciences and General Studies in 2010. She is currently a student at Humber College in Canada.

“The associate degree programme offered by the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College is an inexpensive way to fast track to a degree programme or to a career change. The evening format of the program allows for an easy fit into the busy schedules of working individuals and is taught by knowledgeable lecturers in their respective fields over diverse subject areas.

“For me, the programme could not have come at a more perfect time. After a long stint in telecommunications… I was ready to embark on a career change and welcomed the opportunity the programme offered.

“Currently I am pursuing a Business Degree with a concentration in Human Resource Management in Canada and was able, with my associate degree, to take two years off my studies.

“With soaring tuition rates at many universities especially for international students, I will encourage anyone wishing to expand their career options or jump start their bachelor’s degree to get enrolled in the programme as it can only work to their advantage,” Dacon-Clarke said.