It s true that if people seek it out, they can find just about any kind of schooling here. Students are learning to become school superintendents, business administrators, nurses, travel and tourism professionals, chefs, occupational therapists, counselors, teachers, massage therapists, hairdressers and much more. Many feel the downfall of this area is that no large state university exists. In an area blanketed with smaller private universities and other institutions, a branch campus of Western Illinois University is in Moline. It s not impossible in this day and age to go to college seven days a week, said Chuck Laws, director of the Quad-City Graduate Center, Rock Island.
People have such easy access to information now.
We used to be limited at what we could do or offer. Now, we have more than 70 graduate programs linked to the graduate center. Besides the graduate center, the center offers classes in 34 locations across the area. Age is no longer a barrier to getting a degree. People in their 50s and 60s sit in our classrooms, he added.