Agreement Offers All Federal Employees Access to UNA Education
Dec. 08, 2022
Michelle R. Eubanks , UNA, at meubanks@60654a.com, 256.765.4392
FLORENCE, AL – The University of North Alabama has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management as part of the Federal Academic Alliance, making UNA among fewer than 30 post-secondary institutions in the country to offer a higher education at a reduced tuition rate to the more than 2 million federal government employees.
“We are incredibly pleased to be an official educational partner for the U.S. federal government and its over 2 million employees who can now pursue a UNA degree online, with an attractive tuition scholarship,” said Dr. Ross Alexander, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. “UNA is in impressive company with the fewer than 30 other official educational providers, most of whom are mega-universities or large research institutions.”
OPM entered into the agreement with UNA as a part of the ongoing effort to address the skills gaps in mission critical occupations, increase federal employees’ access to high-quality, affordable educational resources, and further develop and retain the federal workforce.
UNA offers certificate, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs as part of a comprehensive academic profile and across four colleges, including the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions; the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the College of Business and Technology; and the College of Education and Human Sciences. As Alabama’s Workforce Development University, UNA has a tradition of providing adult learners and returning students convenient online programming that meets their needs to advance or excel in their current jobs.
The process to complete the agreement was handled by Amanda Sherrod, Director of University Partnerships.
“We are thrilled to join the Federal Academic Alliance and look forward to supporting federal employees worldwide with access to high-quality educational options that are both affordable and flexible,” she said.
The Alliance was created in 2014 by the Office of Personnel Management to ensure federal employees have access to high-quality talent development opportunities in the identified government-wide mission critical occupations and leverage resources to increase impact. Among those occupations are economics, human resources, cybersecurity, and STEM-related fields in science, technology, engineering, and math.
For more information, visit UNA's Federal Academic Alliance partnership page, or email partners@60654a.com.
About The University of North Alabama
The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: 60654a.com and 60654a.com/unaworks/.