Continuing education in western Mass?

August 27, 2015 10:28 AM

I'm hoping to take classes as a non-degree student and looking for options.

I am a 30-year-old college graduate living in western Massachusetts. I want to return to school but am not in the right position for a full-time degree program. My academic/career interests are English and Library Science but I'm open to taking classes in any field. What are my best options for CE or graduate-level courses in the area?

posted by fromspiderhead to Education (6 answers total)

Best answer: There's always Greenfield Community College and Holyoke Community College, both of which offer a ton of continuing-ed classes. I've heard good things about classes at both.

UMass Amherst offers a Non-Degree registration option for students with a 4-year degree. I assume that most of the other five colleges also offer some version of this to community members. UMass also has a general continuing ed program too, though it's more expensive than the community college options.

And if you're interested in online classes, I'm sure you could shop around at any major university in the country. Some places like Coursera will offer course certification for a fee.
posted by sonmi at 11:46 AM on August 27, 2015

Best answer: Westfield State has a number of classes that you can take as well. Many appear to be career oriented, but some are not.
posted by plinth at 12:20 PM on August 27, 2015

This is a kind of vague question, since you don't restrict it to graduate level or narrow it down to any field, and Western Mass is half a state. Essentially every institution of higher learning in Western Mass, Southern Vermont, northwestern Connecticut and nearby areas of New York State and New Hampshire could qualify. There are dozens. Use a locator like this one to find them, check them out and pick one. Or augment this question with a narrower choice of interests.
posted by beagle at 12:43 PM on August 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I'm not sure where in Western Mass you are, but Simmons College in Boston runs a part-time Library Science program out of Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley.
posted by catoclock at 1:34 PM on August 27, 2015

Best answer: I'm taking a statistics class online from UMass Amherst this fall as a non-degree student. Looks like they have a pretty wide range of offerings. Just learned I have to go to Amherst campus to take my final, but I don't mind that... I've heard it's nice.
posted by kythuen at 8:05 PM on August 27, 2015

Response by poster: Forgot to mention the essential fact that live classes, not online, are my preference. And that I would rather not travel "half a state" to get to them. Thanks for your suggestions.
posted by fromspiderhead at 9:26 AM on August 28, 2015