So, what’s your &?

As every student knows, asking the right questions is more important than always getting the right answers. Lately, we’ve been asking ourselves and our students something really important: What’s Your &?

Of course that question raises another question: What does it mean?

What “&” Means

If you’re going to college at Bryant & Stratton, you’re a lot more than just a college student.

There are many colleges where the students are just students. They enroll straight from high school and follow the marked path for four years – or even longer. They live in dorms. They sleep late. And that’s great. But it’s not who we are.

Students at Bryant & Stratton are students, and they’re mothers, and fathers, and caretakers. They’re also working while they study, balancing the job they have with the career they want. And they’re veterans. And they’re coming from places where college wasn’t always the first thing on everyone’s mind.

And on top of all that, they’re dreamers. They are doing it all, and they are pushing toward a future that’s bigger and brighter than what they have now.

The & represents all those things that our students are in addition to being students. Your & is the people who you are pushing yourself farther for. Your & is the path that brought you here. Your & is the future that you’re building.

No two Bryant & Stratton students have the same &. But all our students have one thing in common: Their & is what’s going to make them a success here.

An Education Built on &

Bryant & Stratton has always been the kind of college that breaks barriers. We were founded over 170 years ago to provide a whole new kind of education to a whole new kind of student. And everything we’ve pioneered since then – night classes, correspondence degrees and online college – has been about making education work for students rather than making students work for education.

Before we started, the only way to get a business education was to get an apprenticeship, and not everyone had the connections to get one. So we decided to teach business skills to anyone who wanted to learn.

As time went by, we transformed in order to serve students with every kind of &.

Some of those who wanted to learn were students and women. (Business colleges didn’t accept women back then.) So we created one of the first business programs for women.

Others who wanted to learn were students living in rural areas. They lived so far away from a college that there was no way for them to attend. So we created the first college degree attained by doing coursework through the mail.

Later on, we met students who worked full time and just couldn’t be in a classroom for six hours a day. So we became one of the first colleges to create an all-online program that worked for them.

Even today, we’re innovating for students who have every kind of &. If you’re a student who can only study online, once you’ve put the kids to bed, but who still appreciates having face time with instructors and classmates, we’ve developed a unique blended learning program that gives you everything you need.

& Your Future

The & makes our students who they are, and it’s made us who we are as a college.

But the most important reason we put the & at the center of who we are isn’t about the past, or the present. It’s about the future: your future.

Too often, students see everything they have going on in their lives – their family obligations, their jobs and their paths – as roadblocks that keep them from building a better future for themselves.

We disagree.

Whatever your & is, we believe that it’s going to be what makes you successful.

We think that a student who also has to work a full-time job is going to be more focused and better at managing their time than others might be.

We think a student who has spent the past few years serving their country is going to be more disciplined than a student who hasn’t.

And we think that a student who’s balancing school and caring for their family is going to be more motivated, in school and beyond, because they’re not just doing it for themselves this time.

When you really get down to it, your & is who you are. It’s your strength and your power. Bryant & Stratton is the place where you use it.