Education Degrees Offered at Wichita State University
Wichita State University appears in our ranking of the Top 20 Online Master’s in Instructional Design.
The School of Education at Wichita State University offers degree programs for students who want to teach and have more or less experience than their peers. One of those is the Transition to Teaching, which the university offers for students who have a bachelor’s degree but did not study education. A special education certificate program also accepts those without a bachelor’s in education. Another option available from the university is its Master of Arts in Teaching program that accepts students with any type of bachelor’s degree.
With 15 options to choose from, undergrads shouldn’t have any problems finding degree programs that match both who and what they want to teach. The university offers an elementary education program that prepares students for teaching students in kindergarten through sixth grade and a similar program that focuses on working with children as young as preschool age. Wichita State also offers middle-grade education and secondary education programs. Students in the middle-grade education focus on teaching kids between sixth and ninth grades, while those in the secondary education program focus on teaching high school students. Some of the subjects they can focus on include art education, English language arts, music education, history, and earth and space science.
Five different graduate programs are also available from Wichita State University for education majors. Both the Transition to Teaching and the special education programs allow students to earn a graduate degree or get an alternative license/endorsement to teach. The learning and instructional design program focuses more on the ways in which educators teach, while the early childhood program has a residency requirement that students must complete. Wichita State University also offers a middle and secondary education graduate program that includes residency work too. Most of the education programs require that majors do some fieldwork also.
About Wichita State University
Wichita State University is a public university located in the Kansas city of the same name. Established in 1866, it went by a few names such as the Wichita Ladies College and the Young Ladies College. It initially served as a college for girls and women over the age of 12 who already had some strong reading and writing skills. They would enhance their skills and learn how to succeed in the world. The Plymouth Congregational Church helped the college during its early years and after it became Fairmount College. This college campus would later become home to the Fairmount Institute, which became Wichita State University in 1964 and welcomed male students. Now called Wichita State and WSU, it is one of the largest colleges in Kansas.
Though Wichita is home to the main campus or branch of WSU, the university also has four satellite campuses. The one in Derby is WSU South, and the campus in Maize is WSU West. U.S. News and World Report ranked the entire university as one of the nation’s top schools and ranked its engineering program as one of the best in the nation. WSU received similar accolades for its undergraduate and graduate education programs.
Wichita State University Accreditation Details
The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) granted full accreditation to the WSU education programs. It obtained this accreditation after showing that its programs prepared students for working as teachers and getting their teaching licenses. Another type of accreditation that applies to these programs comes from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), which is what lets WSU grant financial aid to education majors and accept their transfer credits.
Wichita State University Application Requirements
The requirements that graduate students must meet will depend on the program. Most education programs only accept students who have a bachelor’s degree in education and high scores on both the PRAXIS II and PPST tests. Students who do not have an education degree must have a degree in the same field they want to teach. They will submit a completed WSU application and provide either references or letters of recommendation and their test scores. Students also need to provide transcripts to show their grades and backgrounds. WSU also requires that students take any required prerequisites in the summer and that they find a place to do an educator internship later in the year.
Undergrads who are under the age of 21 and a Kansas resident must score 1080/21 on the SAT/ACT or have a GPA of 2.5 or higher and graduate within the top 33% of their classes. They will also need to complete the college prep curriculum established by the state. Students coming from outside of Kansas will need to take the same courses, including several years of math, social and life science and English classes. Those with a GED need to score 680 or higher on the GED test. WSU also admits home school students who scored 21/980 or higher on the ACT/SAT. All prospective undergrads must provide WSU with a high school transcript, application, and official test scores.
Tuition and Financial Aid
WSU charges a resident rate of $224 per credit hour for Kansas undergrads and a nonresident rate of $530 per credit hour for undergrads who live in another state. The cost of required fees will add $673 to their costs each semester. Undergrads also pay at least $9,920 each year for room and board. WSU grad students pay $742 per credit hour as a nonresident and $302 per credit hour as a resident. The Midwest Student Exchange allows those coming from other Midwestern states to pay a discounted rate of $453 per credit hour. Another program reduces tuition for students from neighboring states and counties to the same amount that residents pay. Students can also purchase a parking pass for $75 a semester or $150 a year.
As soon as Wichita State receives a student’s FAFSA, it will begin working on a financial aid package based on the total need shown on that document. The average package for a freshman will include admission to the work-study program, a subsidized student loan and one or more grants. Graduate students can get financial aid packages that also include a loan, grant, and job. There are scholarships available based on the merit and need of each individual student too. Education majors attending Wichita State University can get financial aid that covers both their direct and indirect costs.
