The Liberal Studies Department will be condensing their B.A. and credential program for incoming freshmen in fall 2018 at California State University Stanislaus, (Stan State), which will be, in a word, “intense” due to the shortage of teachers in California.
According to Katie Olivant, Ed. D. Department Chair, Associate Professor of the Liberal Studies Department, the program will require students to maintain a 135 unit load for four years, which will include summer and winter courses as well in order for students to stay on track.
“It won’t be for every Liberal Studies student, it’ll be for the ones that can manage the intensity of that program,” Olivant said. “They’ll have to take full loads at least every semester.”
Olivant also remarked that the student would need to “know from the get-go coming in as freshmen” that the condensed program would be the best academic plan for them.
The program would be a “fast track” within the Liberal Studies major, Olivant said, and would be completely voluntary.
 “They’ll have to start it very early in their time because of the Liberal Studies major, so it won’t be something a junior now could benefit from, but somebody who’s in progress would have had to already have done 15 units a semester every semester they’ve been here and had stayed closely to the liberal studies plan,” Olivant said.
For seniors within the Liberal Studies major, receiving news of the new academic track was bittersweet.
Yosemite Aleman (senior, Liberal Studies, Child Development) and Erika Eckerdt, (senior, Liberal Studies, Exceptional Children & Youth) know personally how much work is put in to becoming a future teacher.
Even with the uncertain details of the program, Aleman believed the program would be quite positive to those who would be willing to put in the work to finish Stan State within four years and start their careers sooner.  
“I would definitely recommend this new program to a freshmen or sophomore in Liberal Studies if they are wanting to finish as soon as possible and are willing to dedicate most of their time into this program since it would be very intense,” Aleman said. “However, everything is possible, and at the end of the day all your hard work pays off.”
Eckerdt, who is currently enrolled in the Multiple Subjects Credential Program (MSCP), remarked that she was “jealous about the combining of the degree and the credential” because it would mean the chance to finish in a shorter timeframe.
“Some of my friends did not participate in the current setup from the credential program because of the intensity of it all.” Eckerdt said. “I would participate in the program no matter how it is set up. I want to be a teacher!”
The shortage of teachers due to a mass cohort of retiring teachers, who had previously held off from retiring during the time of the recession according to Olivant, has started to receive more funding back into education.
“The CCTC put out an RFP, a request for proposal for grant funding, to develop these integrative programs, and we applied for a grant and we received one,” Olivant said. “And the grant is to develop the program, so it’s paying faculty and recruitment, types of materials and things like that.”
According to Olivant, tuition will remain the same for Liberal Studies students who choose the condensed track, but Olivant and her workgroup for the integrated teaching program at Stan State will be working on changing summer and winter course fees to reflect the prices of fall and spring courses.
“If a student decides that it’s just too intense, or if they want to slow down a little bit, they can jump back to the normal Liberal Studies track and do their B.A. in four years and then get their credentials in a year,” Olivant said.
Associated degree of transfer (ADT) students will also be eligible to choose the track after they transfer to Stan State.