• Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
  • Skip to main navigation
  • Skip to current students navigation

Site Header Phone Number

608-262-2011

Site Header Chat

Chat OnlineChat Offline

Site Header Apply

Apply Now

Site Header Current Students Navigation

Current Students

Click a link below for program specific Canvas access and resources.

  • Degrees

    • Arts & Science
    • Business Administration
    • Diagnostic Imaging
    • Health Sciences
    • Information Science & Technology
    • Nursing Degree (RN to BSN)
  • Certificates

    • Business Analytics
    • Health Care Informatics
    • Project Management
    • Substance Use Disorders

University of Wisconsin Flexible Option

Site Header Main Navigation

Menu

  • Programs
    • Degrees

      • Associate of Arts & Science
      • Business Administration
      • Diagnostic Imaging
      • Health Sciences
      • Information Science & Technology
      • Nursing Degree (RN to BSN)
    • Certificates

      • Business Analytics
      • Health Care Informatics
      • Agile Project Management
      • Substance Use Disorders
    • Microcredentials
      • Interprofessional Leadership in Healthcare Microcredential
  • Getting Started
    • How to Apply
    • UW Flexible Option Admission
    • Talk to an Enrollment Adviser
    • Technology Requirements
    • Veterans
    • Special Students
  • Tuition & Financial Aid
    • Tuition

      • Payments & Refunds
      • Withdrawals
    • Financial Aid

      • Financial Aid Overview
      • Types of Aid
      • Applying for Financial Aid
      • Cost of Attendance
      • Disbursements & Refunds
      • Maintaining Eligibility
      • Impacts of Enrollment Changes
      • Repeating a Course and Financial Aid
      • Net Price Calculator
    • Quick Links

      • Academic Calendar
      • Academic Plan of Study (APS)
      • Definition of Terms
      • Establishing Attendance
      • Financial Aid FAQs
      • Financial Aid Forms
      • Financial Aid Tools
      • Make Payment
      • Contact Us
  • Stories & News
  • About
    • How UW Flexible Option Works
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • What is Competency-Based Education?
    • Faculty & Staff
    • Annual Report
    • Academic Calendar

Site Header Search

Search Site

Show Search
Note this article is Archived, and its contents may not be up to date.

“Fleet and Flexible”: UW’s Competency-based Degrees Help Working Adults Get Ahead

UW Flexible Option Team · Thu Jul 3 2014

uw flexible option

UW Flexible Option degree programs, the University of Wisconsin’s acclaimed entry into competency-based education, are back in the news—this time in a feature article at IBMadison.com, the online news site of In Business magazine, south-central Wisconsin’s leading business publication.

The article points out the well-documented lifetime financial advantage of a bachelor’s degree and the challenge of earning one later in life as a working adult. The author sums up how this innovative, online, competency-based degree program helps adult learners overcome this challenge and meet their goals.

First of all, students learn at their own pace, and they aren’t limited in the number of credits they can earn during a given subscription period. For a flat tuition fee of $2,250, students sign up for a three-month subscription, and during that time they can advance through the program as quickly (or slowly) as they like—and they can do their coursework whenever they want to. That creates not only a high degree of flexibility for students who need to create a work-life balance, but also a greater degree of efficiency for students who are prepared to “show what they know.”

Although UW Flex has only been up and running for six months, early results show that students are tending to accelerate progress toward their degrees. So says Aaron Brower, interim chancellor of UW Extension and UW Colleges, in the article:

“On average, students are completing about 1.2 competency sets per subscription period,” said Brower. “So that’s a lot faster as a way through than if you were doing this at a normal course pace.”

A competency-based degree program with no constraints on pace coupled with a motivated and skilled student means a University of Wisconsin degree can now be earned faster, and at a lower cost than its traditional brick-and-mortar or online degree counterpart. But that potential speed and cost advantage doesn’t mean earning a degree is any easier, as a UW Flex student interviewed for the article notes.

“The couple of courses that I’ve taken so far have been pretty straightforward, but the knowledge and the rigor of the assessments are on par with what I’ve experienced before in the traditional delivery method,” said Apel, who’s enrolled in the information science and technology bachelor’s program. “So it’s not a cakewalk.”

Read the full IBMadison.com article here.

Footer

Pages

  • UW Flexible Option Programs
  • Getting Started
  • Tuition & Financial Aid
  • Current Students
  • Stories & News

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Linkedin
  • Youtube

Contact

Flexible Option Enrollment Team
University of Wisconsin Extended Campus

608-262-2011
flex@uwex.wisconsin.edu
Fax: 608-262-4096

Technical Support

1-877-724-7883 (toll free)
Web Form

 

A Collaboration of the Universities of Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin System

The Universities of Wisconsin are comprised of UW-Eau Claire, UW-Green Bay, UW-La Crosse, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Parkside, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Stout, UW-Superior, and UW-Whitewater.

Copyright © 2025 Board of Regents - University of Wisconsin System. All Rights Reserved.
Site Map | Privacy Policy | Log in