SALT LAKE CITY – Western Governors University (WGU) and Cayuga Medical Center—a member of Cayuga Health System—have announced a partnership designed to give employees of the comprehensive medical center increased access and flexibility to earn affordable bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Utilizing WGU’s online, competency-based and mentor-supported programs, Cayuga Medical Center employees who are accepted to WGU can fit their higher education goals into their lives and busy schedules. The nonprofit university’s affordable tuition and flexible model offer employees access to degree programs with minimal cost. Cayuga Medical Center employees who apply to WGU will also have their application fee waived.

“At WGU, we are committed to changing lives through education,” said Dr. Rebecca Watts, Regional Vice President for WGU. “By working with partners like Cayuga Medical, we expand educational opportunities for working adults with busy schedules to advance their personal and professional goals.”

WGU’s competency-based model awards degrees based on a student’s ability to demonstrate mastery of a series of competencies—skills and knowledge recognized by employers as crucial to career success. This approach to higher education enables students to progress through their program as quickly as they are able, accelerating through material they learn quickly or already know well from work or previous educational experiences. It also ensures that what they are learning along the way is workforce relevant.

Based in Ithaca, New York, and a member of the Cayuga Health System, Cayuga Medial Center is a major provider of medical services for people of the Finger Lakes Region and employs thousands of residents. Cayuga Medical Center has been operating for over a hundred years and is dedicated to serving their patients with compassion and the latest and most advanced medical techniques.