Kent State University at Ashtabula recently announced the addition of a flexible part-time option for students pursuing an associate degree in Occupational Therapy Assistant Technology (OTA), allowing for those with busy schedules to take as few as two or three classes per semester to remain on track for graduation within three years.
“We see more and more students are becoming increasingly busy and sometimes the course workload becomes too much,” program director Julie Mirabell, MS, OT/L said. “This option allows busy students to continue through the program at a slower pace that fits into their life schedule.”
Kent State Ashtabula’s OTA program moved to the state of Ohio’s first hybrid model in the summer of 2020. Between 65-70 percentage of the curriculum is delivered online, with weekly on-campus labs in the state-of-the-art Robert S. Morrison Hall.
The part-time track will be offered in the same hybrid format as the full-time option. Students may choose to enter the new part-time track prior to or during the second semester of the OTA program and will continue through the program at a rate of two or three classes per semester to complete the program in a total of three years. The full-time track remains available as another convenient option for students who wish to complete the program in as little as 20 months.
“Students will find that the flex part-time track combines perfectly with the hybrid nature of the program,” Mirabell added. “It’s all aimed at widening students’ opportunities and providing them convenience and flexibility in their study.”
Application for admission to the OTA program is now open at www.kent.edu/ashtabula.ota until March 1, 2022, with a program start date of summer.
Occupational therapy assistants help patients develop, recover, improve and maintain the skills needed for daily living and working. They are directly involved in providing therapy to patients, and work under the direction of occupational therapists. The median annual wage for OTAs nationally is $62,940 (May 2020), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a job growth rate of 34 percent by 2030 – much faster than the national average.
Since its inception in 2007, the Kent State Ashtabula OTA program has produced over 200 graduates into the field, regularly surpassing the national average on the National Board of Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) exam.
Students interested in applying to the program can begin pre-requisite work as early as the next semester. Visit www.kent.edu/ashtabula/ota for more information about the program. To apply to Kent State Ashtabula, visit www.kent.edu/ashtabula/apply-now.
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