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Front Range, Metro combine to offer new dietician program

Three degrees in five years
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Students studying in a common area on Front Range Community College's Westminster campus. April 23, 2021. Colorado Public Radio

 

Her 1,200 calories a day diet left April Purello starving and frustrated. It was typical of the fly-by-night diets she and others have tried over the years to shed pounds and achieve the magazine cover physiques Americans, especially young Americans, covet.  

“That 1,200 calories a day can barely support a toddler,” the 36-year-old Purello said this week. “Your body relies on a certain amount of calories for basic functions … like for breathing. That amount of calories isn’t even hitting the proper marker to keep you healthy.”

Purello worked as a hairdresser and considered a career as graphic designer. But the misinformation about dieting and nutrition prompted her to enroll at Front Range Community College to become a registered dietician nutritionist, or RDN.  

“It’s concerning how that sort of dieting is promoted especially for young people,” Purello said. “You see these unhealthy standards and they are unattainable. I wanted to become a source of knowledge to help people make informed decisions.”

Purello now can complete the required degrees for their professional credentials as a RDNs in less time and for less money, under a new program introduced at FRCC in conjunction with Metro State University.

The two institutions have designed a new pathway to guide students directly from an Associate of Science to a Master of Science degree in nutrition and dietetics. This accelerated track allows students to complete their associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in only five years, an FRCC news release states.

People who want to pursue the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RD/RDN) professional credential will be required to have a graduate degree starting on January 1, 2024, the news release states.

“The FRCC associate degree program offers a flexible option for students who want to save money on their first two years of this rigorous accelerated program,” said James Stevens, lead faculty for the college’s nutrition and dietetics program.

“They can take classes at any of our three campuses — in Westminster, Longmont and Fort Collins — or complete the associate degree entirely online.”

FRCC’s new nutrition and dietetics program, allows students to first earn an Associate of Science (AS) degree over the course of four semesters — or approximately two years — at FRCC. They can then seamlessly transfer to MSU Denver as a junior for the remaining three years of their education, the news release states.

This pathway leads to two degrees from MSU Denver — a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in nutrition and dietetics.

“When the Commission on Dietetic Registration made the decision to increase the requirements associated with becoming an RDN, the Department of Nutrition knew that we had to come up with more options for students to meet those requirements,” said Rachel Sinley, Ph.D., MSU Denver Nutrition Department Chair.

 “This pathway was established to get students into the workforce sooner, save time and tuition costs and ensure that courses transferred easily,'' Sinley said.

Studying nutrition and dietetics offers a clear career path with a wide variety of opportunities in healthcare and wellness. In Colorado, demand is high for registered dieticians and nutritionists — with 11% job growth projected nationally between 2020 and 2030, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to FRCC.

RDNs can work in a variety of fields including schools, hospitals, local government, public health, wellness programs and sports, FRCC states.

An eager Purello said FRCC’s program is ideal for her. “It’s really helpful to get to my goals faster.”