UAHT-UAM Partnership Gives Working Arkansans a Path to Earn a Bachelor’s Degree Close to Home

HOPE/TEXARKANA, AR — For working adults who want to earn a bachelor’s degree but cannot put their careers and families on hold to move away for college, the partnership between the University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana (UAHT) and the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) brings the opportunity closer to home.

Through the UAHT-UAM campus-within-a-campus partnership, students at UAHT’s Hope and Texarkana campuses can pursue bachelor’s degrees from UAM in K-6 Elementary Education and Business Administration while remaining in their local communities.

The partnership is designed to remove some of the biggest obstacles facing working adults who want to continue their education, including distance, affordability, and the difficulty of balancing college with work and family responsibilities.

“Many people in our communities have reached a point in their careers where a bachelor’s degree could open the door to their next opportunity, but leaving their job, moving away, or commuting long distances simply isn’t realistic,” said Dr. Ricky Tompkins, UAHT chancellor. “This partnership gives those students another option. They can build their education close to home, continue working and prepare for careers that are important to the future of our region and state.”

Under the partnership, students complete their first two years as UAHT students and then enroll with UAM for their junior and senior years while continuing their studies on a UAHT campus. Students pay UAHT tuition rates during their first two years and UAM tuition rates during their junior and senior years. Participants also have access to resources and services from both institutions and can earn an associate degree from UAHT and a bachelor’s degree from UAM.

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Arkansas needs more teachers

The new Bachelor of Arts in K-6 Elementary Education pathway comes at a time when Arkansas continues to face challenges recruiting and retaining qualified teachers.

The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education annually identifies teacher shortage areas based on factors including the percentage of unlicensed teachers, teacher attrition, and the supply of graduates coming through educator preparation programs.

A 2026 report from the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research further illustrates the challenge. Of the 235 school districts examined, 27% were classified as high-need geographic teacher-shortage districts, and another 11% were classified as moderate-need districts. High-need districts need to replace 20% or more of their teachers annually to fill all positions with certified staff, or are located within a high-need education cooperative region.

The UAHT-UAM partnership provides another pathway for people already living and working in Southwest Arkansas to prepare to become licensed educators without having to leave the region to complete a four-year degree.

The opportunity may be especially attractive to paraprofessionals, classroom aides, substitute teachers, and other school employees who have considered becoming teachers but need an option that lets them stay close to home and keep working.

Preparing Arkansas’ business workforce

The partnership also provides a pathway to a Bachelor of Business Administration, helping working adults prepare for advancement and new opportunities across a broad range of industries.

Arkansas workforce projections demonstrate significant demand for employees with business-related skills. State projections for 2022-2032 estimated that Business and Financial Operations occupations would add 8,669 jobs and generate approximately 7,037 openings annually from growth, workers changing occupations, and people leaving the workforce.

Individual occupations that typically require a bachelor’s degree also show strong projected growth. For example, Arkansas projections anticipated employment of market research analysts and marketing specialists to grow 21.2%, accountants and auditors by 12.4%, and other business operations specialists by 11.9% between 2022 and 2032. The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services has since released updated statewide long-term projections covering 2024-2034, underscoring the state’s continued focus on preparing workers for future occupational demand.

For employees already working in business, education, government, healthcare, nonprofit organizations, or other industries, the BBA pathway can provide an opportunity to build credentials for advancement without requiring them to leave Southwest Arkansas.

An affordable path to a bachelor’s degree

Affordability is another major component of the partnership.

UAM provides the Iron Horse Transfer Scholarship, a $3,000-per-semester award, to eligible UAHT students who complete 55 credit hours and maintain at least a 2.5 GPA. Combined with the opportunity to pay UAHT tuition rates (or no tuition and fees at all for qualifying students) during the first two years, the scholarship is designed to help make the programs among the most affordable bachelor’s degree options in Arkansas.

Students can complete all four years of their degree pathway on a UAHT campus, allowing working adults to pursue a bachelor’s degree without relocating to another community.

The partnership’s Bachelor of Arts in K-6 Elementary Education and Bachelor of Business Administration programs expand UAHT’s mission of making higher education accessible to the people and communities it serves.

“Whether someone is working in a school and dreams of becoming a teacher, working in an office and wants to move into management, or simply started college years ago and is ready to finish what they began, we want them to know that earning a bachelor’s degree may be more attainable than they think,” Tompkins said. “They can stay here, keep working and keep building their future.”

Registration for spring 2027 classes at UAHT begins November 2, 2026. Prospective students are encouraged to begin planning their educational pathway early so advisors can help them determine how previous college credits and upcoming coursework may fit into the UAHT-UAM bachelor’s degree pathway.

For more information about the UAHT-UAM partnership or to begin planning a path toward a bachelor’s degree, call the UAHT Purtle Advising Center at 870-722-8124 or visit uaht.edu/uam.php.