It is official; Bakersfield College’s Liberal Studies program for people interested in becoming an elementary teacher will soon become the Associate in Arts in Elementary Teacher Education for Transfer Degree Program (AA-T).

This change will be in the 2015-2016 catalogs. According to professor Bernadette Towns, if you are close to finishing the Liberal Studies program then stay with that program, but if you are a new student interested in becoming an Elementary School Teacher, this new path is the one to take.

If interested, you can talk to a counselor about the Student Educational Plan pathway that is already set up.

This path suggests that you take 15 units per semester for four semesters. The pathway is a total of 53 units with seven additional elective units, which will complete the full 60 units for the degree.

This path will help you finish the program in two years. With this SEP pathway finished, you will have automatic early registration at CSUB when you transfer, which is just one option toward receiving your bachelor’s in education.

If you need more information on how the SEP path works, you can always schedule an appointment with one of BC’s Career and Technical Education advisors located in the FACE building room 16, or call them at (661) 395-4089.

There are also other university opportunities to choose from, such as the University of La Verne, which has a campus in Bakersfield; their Kern County Regional Campus is located at 1201 24th Street, Suite D-200, Bakersfield 93301, (661) 861-6800. For more information you can go to www.laverne.edu.

There is also Point Loma Nazarene University’s School of Education. Their Bakersfield Regional Center is located at 5080 California Ave., Suite #300. For more information you can go to www.pointloma.edu/grad or [email protected].