SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio College students graduating this semester are worried about the program’s future and how any changes could impact their classmates who are still working towards their degrees.
Maygan Rosas is passionate about pursuing her career as a funeral director and embalmer once she completes the program at San Antonio College and takes the state exam.
But she’s worried about recent developments with staffing that have left some classes without instructors, just weeks from the end of the semester.
Rosas said three out of the five program instructors are gone.
“They were in charge of the actual embalming and anatomy portions, and they taught a lot of other courses as well. And since that is two parts of a program, two instructors just isn’t enough,” she said.
Rosas said she is also worried about how the lack of instructors will impact how she does in the state exam. She’s taken her concerns about the program to the college’s board of trustees and social media.
“If the program ceases to exist, then there’s not going to be a program for South Texas, and everybody who’s already invested so much time and money into the program, they may not have another option, and they’ll have to just completely stop,” she said.
The program is one of only four in the state and one of two on a college campus.
Ken Slavin, SAC’s marketing and strategic communications director, said the program is not in jeopardy.
SAC issued the following statement to KSAT:
Established in 1961, San Antonio College’s Mortuary Science associate degree program was the first college-based funeral service education program offered in the state of Texas. It is fully accredited by the American Board of Funeral Service Education and the Texas Funeral Service Commission, and a member of the University Mortuary Science Education Association.
For nearly 62 years, San Antonio College has established strong and lasting professional ties with all major funeral homes in San Antonio and our graduates have pursued successful careers with all of them. We take our reputation and our accreditation very seriously.
While we cannot comment about the recent faculty developments, we can state emphatically that the current situation has not resulted in any lapse of services to our mortuary science students. We have met with all students impacted to assure them that their courses will continue as scheduled and will continue to be taught by credentialed mortuary science instructors. And we have communicated with our community partners to keep them informed.
Specifically:
Our Academic Success division is working closely and intensively with Alamo Colleges District’s HR team and our community partners to recruit and quickly hire credentialed mortuary science instructors to guide students through the remainder of the semester. And they are working to recruit and quickly hire new instructors to be in place for the next academic year.
We have invested $27,000 in additional resources to assist with course completion over the remaining weeks of this semester. These resources include:
Mortuary Assessment Testing Simulator (MATS) software.
International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards Study Guides.
Conference Practice Vouchers (Arts and Sciences).
A four-day intensive review – (two days of Arts and two days of Sciences) with all materials included for our graduating students preparing for the National Board Exam.
We are committed to regular meetings with all mortuary science students to assist with advising, registration and studies, to provide additional resources, to listen to concerns, and to share updates as they become available.
At San Antonio College our students always come first. We are committed to ensuring that mortuary science classes continue uninterrupted and that our students successfully complete their studies.
SAC is set to open the first funeral home in the summer, it will be the first mortuary on a college campus in the U.S. it will be used as a lab for students. But a manager for the funeral home has not yet been hired.
San Antonio College