{"id":59240,"date":"2025-11-24T20:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/59240\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:32:09","slug":"university-selects-st-petersburg-for-first-physical-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/59240\/","title":{"rendered":"University selects St. Petersburg for first physical location"},"content":{"rendered":"

An online education pioneer has selected St. Petersburg for its first standalone, immersive in-person learning site in the institution\u2019s 54-year history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Albany, New York-based Excelsior University<\/a> opened its St. Petersburg campus Oct. 20 at 9400 4th Street N. Students can now enroll in hybrid Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity<\/a>, Master of Science in Cybersecurity<\/a> and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology<\/a> degree programs, with classes beginning Jan. 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Excelsior University St. Petersburg will also open enrollment for health care<\/a> programming in early 2026. President David Schejbal said a \u201cconvergence of various opportunities\u201d led to the school choosing the city to host its new facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a significant contingent of current Excelsior students who live in that region,\u201d Schejbal told the Catalyst. \u201cNearly 40% of our students are either active members of the military or veterans.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

David Schejbal, president of Excelsior University.<\/p>\n

He noted that roughly 850,000 veterans<\/a> live between St. Petersburg and Orlando, \u201cso there\u2019s a huge market there.\u201d Schejbal also credited Florida\u2019s higher education system, but said state universities are \u201cpacked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that the programs we want to bring down there, including electrical engineering, tech, cybersecurity and nursing, are just top job degrees that will serve the community well,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Founded in 1971, the not-for-profit university emphasizes lifelong learning and prioritizes serving students who are historically underrepresented in higher education. Excelsior has a main campus in Albany, and its academic programs are registered with the New York State Education Department. The school has also received additional licensing for Florida-based programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Excelsior boasts over 200,000 graduates, with nearly 17,000 residing in Florida. The \u201cbrick-and-mortar complement to the institution\u2019s history of innovation in distance and online education\u201d will allow faculty and staff to strengthen relationships with 500 current students who live in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schejbal said employers increasingly seek \u201cjob-ready employees\u201d who have \u201call the theoretical skills\u201d and in-person training. \u201cAnd it\u2019s hard to get hands-on experience in a purely online course.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, Schejbal said lab training would help prepare electrical engineering technology students to work in data centers or server farms. Excelsior wants to provide enrollees with \u201copportunities to go back and study on their own if they want, or with a faculty member to get some information outside of the classroom but within a lab setting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cVeterans really benefit a lot from being able to be with each other,\u201d Schejbal continued. \u201cWe know that many veterans are struggling with similar issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also called face-to-face interactions a \u201cvery powerful incentive for learning\u201d for all students, \u201cespecially these days with AI (artificial intelligence) when people can learn a lot on their own through online experiences.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schejbal explained that the New York Board of Regents established the formerly public university to help adults complete degrees and assist veterans returning home from the Vietnam War. \u201cFrom the beginning, we were very closely connected to serving the military, and that relationship has continued ever since,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Excelsior University staff members David Lawyer (left), director of military outreach and veteran partnerships, and Louis Leary, military veteran partnership specialist, work at the new St. Petersburg site.<\/p>\n

The St. Petersburg facility is now in the \u201ccounseling and engagement phase.\u201d Schejbal realizes Excelsior is \u201cnot a household name in Florida yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, officials are already discussing growth plans. \u201cIf this facility becomes popular, and we discover other needs in the greater Tampa region, we might want to set up a couple of other campuses \u2026 to make it easy for students to attend in-person classes after work, on a Saturday morning, whatever works for them,\u201d Schejbal said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He stressed the importance of students attending school where they feel comfortable and welcome. Excelsior prioritizes building a \u201csense of community\u201d and connections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur motto right now is \u2018you belong here,\u2019 and we mean that,\u201d Schejbal added. \u201cWe don\u2019t care where you come from. We don\u2019t care what your background is. We want students to feel comfortable here and like this is their learning home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we\u2019ll take good care of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Education has approved Excelsior to offer federal financial aid. The school has myriad accreditations, a 54-year track record, and Schejbal noted it\u2019s \u201cnot somebody\u2019s corporate pet peeve \u2013 we\u2019re the real deal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said Excelsior is expanding \u201cinto different parts of the country because we have students in many parts of the country. The only difference here is that we are setting up a physical location in addition to teaching students online in Florida.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An online education pioneer has selected St. Petersburg for its first standalone, immersive in-person learning site in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-59240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}