Thomas May Peirce first opened the doors in 1865 for
returning Civil War vets to gain the skills needed to compete in a shifting
workplace. Since then, Peirce College has remained committed to the vision of
being the recognized leader in higher education for providing adult
learners a direct and customized path to employer valued skills and
credentials.
By maintaining this focus over the past 150 years, Peirce has
gained valuable insights into the challenges working adults face when trying to
balance work and family while pursuing their education. Based on this
understanding, we’ve continuously rolled out new, flexible learning models to
help students achieve a balance and meet their goals.
Examples of this can be seen dating back to the school’s
founding when classes offered a great deal of flexibility to accommodate
fully-employed students. At that time, students could begin classes at any time
and take as long as they needed to complete them, evening classes were
available, and classes were offered year round – an innovative concept at the
time.
Fast-forward over 100 years to 1999 and this focus on making
education more accessible for working adults continued with the piloting of
online courses. Since their launch, Peirce has been featured on the U.S.
News and World Report’s list of the best online bachelor’s degree
programs numerous times.
Today we continue our support of working adult students by
offering a variety
of class formats to best meet the challenges of students’ busy lives. These
formats include day and evening classes, innovative online courses, and our newest
course delivery system which allows students to choose on a class-by-class
basis whether to attend online or in person. In addition, Peirce recently began
offering weekend intensive classes that allow students to complete an entire
three-credit course in only three weeks.
As we celebrate our 150th anniversary, we look
forward to another 150 years of offering the latest innovations that allow
adult students to customize their education in the manner most convenient for
their busy lives.
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