Towson University Comes Close to Home

Towson University Comes Close to Home

Sydney Schoff

Recently Towson University opened a new building in the Harford County area. Towson University of Northeastern Maryland, or TUNE, is on the Harford Community College campus and offers 300 and 400 level classes.

Towson has a large amount of attendees from the Harford County area. This new building allows the students looking to attend Towson after earning their associates degree from Harford Community College (or Cecil Community College) to continue their education close to home. This new distance advantage saves students gas money and commuting time. Students also save on room and board. Though the Towson tuition is the same for TUNE students the fees are almost cut in half.

TUNE is what is referred to as a 2+2 building. People will ideally earn their associates degree from HCC and then continue their educations right into Towson on the same campus. The building offers only classes at the junior and senior level. The building is run the same way classes are taught on the main campus. Each student will have the opportunity to work with highly qualified faculty and staff to continue their college education.

“This is the only region in the state without a four year degree granting institution.  About 10 years ago the presidents at HCC and TU got together to discuss ways to bring those degrees “closer to home” in Northeastern Maryland.  HCC was already sending 65 to 70 percent of its students who went on to four year schools to Towson’s main campus so the partnership made sense and the idea of a building was born,” said John Desmone, Executive Director of Towson University in Northeastern Maryland.

TUNE’s projected success is high. Currently there are seven programs being offered through TUNE. Towson is looking to have that number expand to 12-15 within the next five to seven years. Towson University is a school that is constantly growing and with the added building in Harford County it should only bring in more possible students. Towson is currently looking at ways that they can expand their available courses through this building to people who are completing college in a nontraditional way such as night classes or online.

Though there is no immediate benefit of taking classes at HCC during senior year, it will lead to earning an associate’s degree faster and therefor taking junior and senior level classes to complete a bachelor’s degree.

Fall Open Houses for TUNE are scheduled for November 11 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. and December 2 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.  Bel Air High School students are invited to attend.  Students can get additional information or RSVP for the Open Houses atwww.towson.edu/closetohome.