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Programs

Extended Evening Program

University of Chicago campus.The School of Social Service Administration offers a three- year Extended Evening Program (EEP) to meet the educational needs of working adults. The program design enables students to complete the Master of Arts degree requirements by attending classes part time in the evenings during three years of continuous enrollment. In addition to coursework, students are required to attend a field placement for a minimum of eight hours a week throughout the program. Students are encouraged to have some daytime availability for field work as well as for occasional school-sponsored workshops and meetings. EEP requires the same number of hours and credits in class and field work as the full-time program.

Required courses are scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 8:20 p.m., two evenings a week. The Field Seminar, held on Saturday mornings in the first year, is an exception to this schedule. It is especially important for EEP students to take the required concentration courses in the specified sequence, since most of these courses are offered in the evening on an every-other-year basis. Because of scheduling constraints, students in the EEP program do not have as full a selection of courses as students in the day program. To take advantage of alternative course offerings, EEP students are encouraged to arrange their work schedules so that they can take some of the daytime courses at SSA and other units of the University.

EEP students complete two field placements. The first placement, or core placement, consists of 400 hours in the field. It typically occurs from the beginning of the Autumn Quarter of the first year, through the following summer, and into the Autumn quarter of the second year. The second field placement consists of 720 hours for students in the clinical practice concentration and 576 hours for students in the social administration concentration. It typically begins during the Autumn or Winter Quarter of the second year, includes the summer, and continues through the third academic year.

Students are required to spend a minimum of eight hours each week in both the first and second field placements. Field internship opportunities are greatly increased if students have some daytime availability for field work, since options for field placements are difficult to arrange for students with only evenings and weekends free. Students are encouraged to talk with their employers about the necessity of having some flexibility in their weekday schedules while in school. Students working in qualified agencies may be able to arrange one of the two field placements at their places of employment. All students must successfully complete the core field placement requirement before registering for the concentration courses in the Winter Quarter of their second year.

Increasing numbers of field placements require background checks, proof of immunizations, drug testing and/or documentation of liability insurance prior to beginning work at the agency. The Field Education Office informs students of these requirements before beginning the practicum.

Financial aid and student loans are available for part-time study based on a combination of merit and need. Additional information can be obtained from the Dean of Students.