Residents of Anoka County and East Central Minnesota are going back to college to finish bachelor’s degrees close to home at the Cambridge and Coon Rapids Campuses of Anoka-Ramsey Community College. The college’s partnerships with several universities have created opportunities that did not exist just a few years ago.

“It’s been great because it’s local and it caters to the working adult,” says Kristin Rutz, a 27-year-old Coon Rapids resident who is completing her bachelor’s degree in special education. “I earned my two-year degree at Anoka-Ramsey in 2004, and I went back there to talk to a counselor once I decided to pursue my bachelor’s degree. It was perfect timing because St. Cloud State was just beginning to offer its special ed. degree at the Coon Rapids Campus.”

Rutz leads a busy life as a wife and mother of a three-year-old. She has also worked full-time in the airline industry since 2000 as a flight attendant and most recently a travel agent. Rutz chose to make a career change a couple of years ago.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and this program gives me the opportunity to continue working and take night classes to finish my degree,” says Rutz. “It would be good to have more courses and programs at the Anoka-Ramsey campuses because there is no big university close by and these programs make people interested in going back to college.”

To date Anoka-Ramsey Community College offers the following advanced degree programs:

Coon Rapids Campus

• Elective Studies: B.A. degree program from St. Cloud State University
• Higher Education Administration: M.S. degree program from St. Cloud State University
• Information Media: Accelerated M.S. degree program from St. Cloud State University
• Special Education: B.S. and M.S. degree courses from St. Cloud State University
• Business Administration: B.S. degree program from Metropolitan State University
• Nursing: Accelerated Bachelor of Science from Metropolitan State University

Cambridge Campus

• Special Education: B.S. leading to E/BD licensure from Minnesota State University Moorhead

Anoka-Ramsey Community College hopes to expand advanced-degree offerings on its two campuses to meet the higher educational needs of the residents of the northern metro region and in East Central Minnesota.

For more information about the St. Cloud State University special education degree offered on the Coon Rapids Campus of Anoka-Ramsey Community College, please attend an upcoming information session: Sept. 19: 7-8:30 p.m. (undergraduate program) Room H118; or Oct. 10: 7-8:30 p.m. (graduate program) Room H118; or contact Marc Markell mamarkell@stcloudstate.edu or 320.308.4087. Visit other programs at Anoka-Ramsey, or call Luanne Kane at 763.433.1297.