What is the Social Services Technology the Associate Degree / Baccalaureate Transfer ("Step-up") Program in Social Work?

Wayne College’s Associate Degree in Social Services Technology provides very practical knowledge, skills, and values that prepare you for preprofessional social service employment and that qualify you to be registered in Ohio as a Social Work Assistant. So, with only an associate degree, you gain immediate employability.

With careful planning as you complete our associate degree, you can also receive both a Certificate in Gerontological Social Services and a Certificate in Therapeutic Activities with only four additional credits beyond the associate degree. These credentials enhance your employability, because the field of aging offers very promising career opportunities. Even if you do not plan to work with older persons, our certificate programs provide valuable knowledge, skills, and attitudes beneficial for diverse career interests.

After you receive your associate degree, if you choose to transfer to the University’s School of Social Work to continue your education, the associate degree becomes the first half of a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work. The Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work qualifies you to take an exam to become licensed in Ohio as a Licensed Social Worker. Although Wayne College offers some courses required for the bachelor’s degree, you do spend several semesters on the Akron campus.

Because Social Services Technology programs at Wayne College use a "career ladder" approach, it is possible to achieve progressively larger goals, such as an associate degree, by completing a series of shorter steps. You can start with any of our programs and apply courses from one program to another. Discover the many advantages that the ”Step-up” Program can offer as you climb the career ladder that will help you reach your goals.

Social Work Assistant Bachelor's Degree in Social Work

     Why should I complete an Associate
     Degree through the Social Services
     Technology "Step-up" Program?

• You start your education at Wayne College, where you have more individualized instruction and smaller classes.

• The Wayne campus has a diverse mixture of students of all ages who have had varied life experiences. This benefits everyone.

• You have a chance to test career interests in social work before making the commitment to invest in a bachelor’s degree.

• With a technical degree, you gain practical knowledge and skills to complement the theoretical focus of the bachelor's degree.

• Learning is reinforced and more comprehensive if you complete an associate degree before pursuing a bachelor’s degree, because you take less electives unrelated to the major and more social work content (such as addiction, aging, group work, crisis intervention, survival skills for helpers).

• You can receive a Certificate in Gerontological Social Services and a Certificate in Therapeutic Activities with just 4 credits beyond the associate degree.

• When you graduate with our associate degree, you are employable in social services and eligible to be a Social Work Assistant.

• By having courses in your major early in your education, you benefit more from upper division courses and have the educational foundation to be very successful in those courses.

• You have more social work experience to add to your resume, since you complete field work for the associate and the bachelor's degrees.

• Through the field work required for the associate degree, you have more contacts with local employers and might be offered a job, which often happens with our students.

• As an associate degree graduate, you have the option of not continuing your education, because graduates can usually find immediate social service employment, or of working in the field as you finish the bachelor's degree on a part-time basis.

• With the associate degree, your employer might give you time and help pay for you to finish the bachelor’s degree.