FAQ
Yes! North Seattle College offers a fully online Bachelor of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education. Students complete all assignments fully online in a largely “asynchronous” style. That said, we place high value on building a community of learners and as such we do require 1-4 synchronous meetings per quarter. One meeting is held face-to-face in Seattle and the other 2-3 are held online after 7pm PST.
The program takes 2 or 3 years to complete in most cases. Whether a student needs two or three years depends mainly on these three variables: 1. The number of credits the student is able to transfer in from their previous college coursework, and 2. Whether the student wishes to attend part time (10 credits per quarter while in the cohort program) or full time (15 credits per quarter while in the cohort program), 3. If the student needs prerequisites in advance of the start of their cohort, which is typically the case for students who do not have an Associate in ECE.
In the hybrid program, Early Childhood Education upper-division (ECE) courses are offered in the evenings and require students to be on campus twice per week. At the time of admission, you will be assigned to a cohort and that cohort will meet on the same two nights per week for the entire academic year. ECE courses begin at 6:30 p.m. and end by 9:30 p.m. Classes are held at Seattle Central College in the Broadway Edison Building. General education courses can be completed in whatever way is best for the student's schedule. Some students may prefer to take courses online; others may wish to take them during evenings in the summer quarters, etc. There are many scheduling options.
In the fully online program, all ECE BAS courses are offered fully online. Once quarterly- typically the Saturday following the first week of the quarter- we will host a required workshop that will typically last from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Students may apply for travel funding to help defray costs. Students who live more than 100 miles away and cannot travel to us are permitted to use Zoom, an online conferencing technology, to attend the meeting remotely.
Although the ECE B.A.S degree is offered by North Seattle College, classes will be held at Seattle Central College in order to make it possible for students from all over the city to have easiest possible access to classes. Seattle Central College is at the heart of Seattle, very accessible via public transit, and evening parking in the garage is inexpensive at just $25 per quarter.
A fully online program is also available. Students must commit to either the fully online or hybrid cohort before the program begins, as we cannot allow students to jump between cohorts.
Students are expected to take all courses through North Seattle College. If there are extenuating circumstances, students may request permission on a quarterly basis to take a general education or elective course at another college. Any student who has financial aid and chooses to take a course at another college will need to submit to the Office of Financial Aid a Consortium Agreement form in which the student requests to disburse their financial aid to another campus/college. The student must transfer the credits back to NSC once the grade has posted. All ECE B.A.S. courses must be taken through NSC.
North Seattle College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities to offer and confer two- and four-year degrees and has been awarded full accreditation status for the Early Childhood Education B.A.S. degree.
Students must apply to be admitted to the program and meet minimum admissions requirements. Meeting minimum requirements does not guarantee admission, as the number of qualified applicants may exceed the number of available enrollment spaces. Keep in mind that while there is an application deadline, ours is a first come, first serve application process, meaning the earlier you apply, the better your chances for securing a seat in our fall cohort. Traditionally, we begin waitlisting in the summer, so the sooner the better. Click here to see when our next deadline is and to begin your application: seattlecolleges.edu/bas/earlychildhoodeducation.
You may begin working on prerequisites, general education, and elective credits in advance. However, if you already have an Associate Degree (or equivalent), we encourage you to apply before you begin so that you can have access to an advisor and become eligible for financial aid and other forms of tuition support and scholarship
Yes. B.A.S. programs require admitted students to follow a specific sequence of courses. Please refer to the Program Planning Sheet for more information. Page three's courses apply to students in our Two Year program. Students in our Three Year program will follow this sequence.
Upper-division B.A.S. courses cost $234.43 per credit for credits 1-10 and $9.95 per credit for credits 11-18, per quarter. Students attending a B.A.S. program full-time can expect to pay arou: nd $2,500 per quarter. For exact pricing, please refer to the tuition table found here: https://northseattle.edu/tuition-fees/tuition-rates
Yes. Eligible students will receive financial aid specifically tailored to the B.A.S. programs, accounting for program length and higher tuition rates. Students should complete the FAFSA and submit necessary data sheets to the financial aid office by the priority deadline for full financial aid consideration. Please visit the financial aid web pages for all financial aid application information.
Yes! The vast majority of students in our program have been successful in pursuing and receiving financial aid and/or scholarships to support their education. Many preschool providers have access to professional development funds or special scholarships for their employees. Please contact your employer to see if you qualify for funding through the Early Achievers program, the Seattle Preschool Program, or other forms of funding. Details on these scholarships and more can be found here. As of winter 2018, we also offer $25,000 annually in scholarships through a grant from the Bainum Family Foundation, specifically for our program. North Seattle College also has scholarship opportunities for specific students.
The practicum is required and focuses on applied, hands-on learning while in the ECE B.A.S. program. Please visit the Applied Learning: Practicum & Capstone page for more information.
No. The A.A.S.-T in ECE, and A.A.S. in ECE best prepare students to enter the program, but other associate degrees are also accepted. Students completing other associate degrees often have to take additional courses to meet prerequisite requirements. Students with significant work and professional development experience in the field may qualify for prior learning toward the satisfaction of prerequisites. Please contact Program Manager Annie Garret for more details.
You may be eligible to bypass the associate degree requirement and start the ECE B.A.S. program. You will still be required to complete the program course prerequisites before beginning. Please contact Program Manager Annie Garret for more information.
International students must first apply to the International Programs at North Seattle College. After acceptance, the student may apply to our ECE BAS program. If accepted to our program, the student applies for an I-20 Visa with the International Programs Office. The Visa must be submitted to the program manager before the student can be registered for BAS classes. The student must also set up Curricular Practical Training (CPT) authorization by meeting with the IP Office to get the paperwork and go over CPT policy, find a practicum site (any early learning setting serving children in the age range of 0-8), meet with our Program Manager to complete the paperwork and submit the paperwork to the IP Office. CPT authorization must last the entire time that the upper division BAS courses are taken. International students must meet all requirements of the North Seattle College IP Office, such as they must take 12 credits per quarter and may not participate in our fully online program.
The Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.S.) is a baccalaureate degree with a major in a technical area with substantial applied content. A B.A.S. degree incorporates and utilizes the credits from a previous associate degree, plus two more years of focused, applied, hands-on learning within the courses. We build on associate degrees and provide workplace skills in specific career areas.
Yes. B.A.S. graduates from other Washington state B.A.S. programs have attended and graduated from master’s degree programs across the state. North Seattle College has purposely worked with four-year universities to review the B.A.S. curriculum in order to give B.A.S. graduates master’s degree opportunities.
Student services such as financial aid, registration, tutoring, and disability services will be provided by North Seattle College. Program faculty and staff are employees of North, although they will host office hours at the classroom location two nights per week. Most student services can be accessed online. If a student takes general education courses at Seattle Central College or South Seattle College, she or he may use student services at those respective colleges for those particular courses.
Students must apply to be admitted to the program and meet minimum admissions requirements. Meeting minimum requirements does not guarantee admission, as the number of qualified applicants may exceed the number of available enrollment spaces. Preference for admission for our Fall cohort is typically given to those who apply by March, but this can vary from year to year. Applications may be accepted on a rolling basis after that time. Click here to begin your application: seattlecolleges.edu/bas/earlychildhoodeducation.
Although our Bachelor’s Level courses in Early Childhood Education only begin in the fall, students may apply to the program, be admitted, and start working on their general education and/or elective credits sooner. This includes prerequisite credits. If you have an Associate Degree (or equivalent credits) already and wish to begin in this way, contact Annie Garrett, Program Manager, for an unofficial transcript review and personalized education planning assistance.
See this page for details on prerequisites. If in-person classes are not available or do not fit the student’s schedule, prospective students may work with the Program Manager to enroll in online courses through Washington Online.
The cohort structure means that all ECE B.A.S. students will be in the same peer group for all of their Bachelor’s Level courses in Early Childhood Education. This lasts for two academic years if you join the two year program, and three academic years if you join the three year program. Graduates say that the cohort model has been a key highlight of their experience, enabling them to have closer relationships, deeper discussions, and a broader professional network.
Our Associate of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education consists of the statewide stackable certificates in Early Childhood Education, which are increasingly required of early childhood educators in many settings throughout the state and are overseen by the WA State Department of Education and Early Learning. However, the Bachelor’s degree does not prepare students for teacher licensure, which is overseen by the Office for the Superintendent of Public Instruction and is quite distinct from the statewide stackable certificates in Early Childhood Education. Teacher licensure is typically required only to teach at preschools that are run by and within public school systems. In the Seattle area, the vast majority of preschools are not operated by public school systems, and, therefore, do not require teacher licensure. However, an increasing number of preschools do require teachers to hold a bachelor’s degree in the field, and this degree meets that requirement. If your immediate goal is to work in the public K-3 setting or to work outside of Seattle in a preschool that is operated by a public school system, this degree may not be the best fit for you. If you want to work in preschools in the near future and may eventually wish to work in a public school, you have the option of earning our degree and later pursuing a Masters or post-baccalaureate teaching certificate that would lead you to licensure. Feel free to contact the program manager to discuss this in greater depth.
Please contact our Outreach & Admissions Specialist, Taraji Belgacem, at eceinfo@seattlecolleges.edu.
The cohort programs are designed so that students bond with one another and their instructors over the six quarters they will take classes together. This allows students can dive more deeply into the course content and to offer support to their peers as needed. It also helps students to grow their professional networks in a meaningful manner. The cohort model has helped students succeed in our program, resulting in a remarkably high retention rate of 96%. As a result, we ask that once a student begins a cohort, whether fully online or hybrid, they stay with that cohort. Temporary switches may be permitted in emergency situations.
The online and hybrid courses for this BAS program will require students to complete significant amounts of work online through our online Learning Management System Canvas. All students must have access to a computer and internet for this program. A range of laptop and desktop computers will meet the requirements for this program, but we recommend the computer has minimum specifications of:
- RAM: 4 GB
- Hard Drive: 160 GB hard drive or larger
- Processor: 2.0 GHz Intel or AMD processor, 3.0GHZ recommend
- Computer microphone and speakers
- Web Camera
Students are also required to purchase a video camera with a strong microphone for their practicum. We recommend the Zoom Handy Video Recorder and typically have a limited number available for quarterly rent through the NSC Library. Scholarships such as Childcare Aware reimburse the cost of this camera and students with financial aid overage checks are asked to purchase the camera using those funds.