About SGPS
There is more than one path to success. Tell us where you are, and we’ll meet you. Tell us where you want to go, and we’ll get there together.
View Our Programs Request InfoWhy Choose Etown SGPS?
Whether you’re looking to advance your career, complete your degree, or start a new chapter in life, the Elizabethtown College School of Graduate and Professional Studies will give you the skills, support, and credentials you’ll need to move up and move ahead. This is where potential meets practice. Where world-ready education meets hometown attention. It’s over a century of Elizabethtown College excellence combined with the access and flexibility lifelong learners demand.
With accelerated associate, bachelor’s, certificate, and graduate programs, we provide the options that work for you. Don’t just take the next step. Leap forward.
- Undergraduate classes run for five-week sessions; graduate courses run for eight weeks.
- Personalized academic advising and student support resources help you every step of the way.
- Online courses let you learn from home, with weekly assignments to keep you on track.
- Instructors are professors of practice, working professionals who bring their expertise into the classroom.
- Transfer credits from prior institutions, military training, and work experience to complete your program faster.
- Our step in, step out option lets you set the pace of your degree.
Our history
The School of Graduate and Professional Studies has been a leader in adult education since 1951, and was among the founding institutions in the consortium of colleges at the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Over the last seven decades, SGPS has grown from a few evening classes into the program portfolio it offers today. SGPS launched its first fully online major in 2010 and established its first graduate program in 2012. Since then, the School has continuously developed new, in-demand programs, now offering more than 40 fully online programs along with several programs delivered in a hybrid format.
A Champion of Adult Learners
Edward R. Murphy P’01, H’12
Elizabethtown College Trustee Emeritus and Founding Benefactor of the Edward R. Murphy Center and the Edward and Carol Murphy Scholarship
Ed Murphy understood the experience of an adult student because he had lived it himself. After his father died during his first year at St. John’s University, Murphy worked during the day to support his family while completing his business administration degree at night. That experience shaped his decades of support for adult learners at Elizabethtown College.
His generosity helped establish the Edward R. Murphy Center in the Hoover Business Center, providing the School of Graduate and Professional Studies and its adult students with a dedicated home on campus. He and his family — including his daughter, Shannan ’01 — also endowed the Edward and Carol Murphy Scholarship and the Charlotte W. Newcombe Scholarship. Following his passing in 2025, these gifts continue to honor his legacy and create meaningful opportunities for adult learners.
Appointed to the Elizabethtown College Board of Trustees in 2001, Murphy served as vice chair of the Buildings & Grounds Committee and as a member of the Student Affairs Committee. He retired after 31 years with West Publishing Company, where he rose through the ranks to facility manager and helped design one of the company’s office buildings in Westbury, New York.
Murphy also dedicated 50 years of service to Vulcan Company Engine #2 in Lynbrook, New York, earning the distinction of honorary chief. His lifelong commitment to education, opportunity and service embodied the College’s motto, Educate for Service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Classes and Format
Most accelerated, three-credit courses meet for five or eight weeks and are offered online. Expect a significant amount of self-directed learning outside the classroom — on average, 15 to 20 hours per week.
Yes. The School of Graduate and Professional Studies offers many online, accelerated courses and programs, with all course learning outcomes met online. Online classes ask you to stay active throughout the course through discussion boards and assignment submissions, and you can access the course site whenever it suits you (asynchronous learning).
Some online classes include live chat sessions. If you cannot attend one, a recording is made available to you, and a brief additional assignment may be required after you view it.
Our courses are organized around clear syllabi and learning materials in our online learning management system. Before your course officially opens, you can preview the syllabus and introductory materials to understand expectations and plan ahead. Course activities are organized into weekly modules that outline assignments, learning activities, and due dates — helping you manage your coursework one week at a time and fit school into your busy life.
The average class size is eight to ten learners. Classes are generally capped at 15, and some have lower maximums because of course requirements.
It depends on your prior coursework and whether you take time off between courses. The more credits you transfer in, the faster you finish.
Undergraduate students have eight five-week sessions available each year, plus a four-week online session between the fall and spring semesters and weekend seminar courses at set times during the year — a possible 24 to 27 credits a year. A traditional 15-week program could take more than twice as long. Graduate students have six eight-week sessions each year, a possible 18 credits.
The program is flexible: if you need to skip a session, you will not fall out of sequence. Our admissions staff can estimate your completion date based on your situation.
Support and Accreditation
You will be assigned an academic advisor who helps you select courses to complete your degree, and who assists with syllabus access, course transfer issues, course equivalency proposals, internships, and more.
Advising is how our adult students stay connected to the College, plan well, and understand graduation requirements.
Elizabethtown College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 267-284-5000. MSCHE is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, and accreditation requires compliance with rigorous academic standards.
The School also relies on its own quality assurance processes, including faculty assessment and student and employer satisfaction surveys. To review accreditation documents, contact the Office of Registration and Records at 717-361-1409.
- A curriculum designed specifically for adult students.
- Accelerated classes that let you control how long your degree takes.
- Graduate and undergraduate online classes, plus the flexibility of step-in, step-out.
- Specially assessed faculty who are working practitioners.
- Credit for Prior Learning, turning experiential learning into college credit.
- Personalized one-on-one advising for adult students.
- A free preliminary evaluation of transcripts and no age restrictions on transfer credits.
