Students who want to earn their bachelor’s degree online now have a new option from the University of South Carolina. The Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies offered by UofSC’s College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management is now available for students to complete entirely online.

The B.A.I.S. major is designed for people who have already gained a variety of academic and life experience and are ready to earn their degree. The dynamic design of the degree program enables students to select courses tailored to their interest and graduation timeline, and the new 100% online option offers even more flexibility.

“Providing a customized degree that helps students achieve their academic and career goals has always been at the core of the B.A.I.S. program,” says B.A.I.S. and Online Learning Director Marianne Bickle. “Having an online degree completion option in addition to our on-campus delivery makes this transformative program even more accessible to working professionals, parents, active military and veterans and other non-traditional students who want to complete their degree.”

Students in the College of HRSM interdisciplinary studies major can choose to specialize in one of the colleges areas of study: hospitality and tourism management, retail management and fashion merchandising or sport and entertainment management. Each student works with an advisor to design a personalized program of study to maximize prior college credits.

The College of HRSM interdisciplinary studies degree program has been a perfect fit for full-time working parents like Michelle Knight (who took one class per semester for years), transfer students like Chandler Engel, who now runs his own athletic apparel company, and military veterans like Reggie Regester. 

“My advisor saved me about a year of time and tuition by aligning my experience with the right program," Regester says.

“It has been wonderful to see this degree program change people’s lives over the years,” says Bickle. “Non-traditional students are often managing a variety of responsibilities in addition to their studies, so finding a valuable degree program that is rigorous yet flexible is really important.”

The interdisciplinary studies major has some program-specific eligibility requirements. Students should have already earned at least 60 college credit hours or be 25 years of age or older, and they should have a career goal related to hospitality, tourism, retail, sport or entertainment management. More information on the B.A.I.S. program is available on the College of HRSM website.