Hillsborough Community first financial technology degree

BRANDON, Fla. — Hillsborough Community College is the first college in the state to offer a two-year degree in Financial Technology. HCC celebrated the official ribbon cutting for the new space on campus on Wednesday. 

Even if you’re not familiar with FinTech, chances are, you use it all the time.

“Fintech, as most people know is something you would do with Apple pay, or Venmo, that’s what FinTech is. We believe it’s important to teach students how to work in this industry,” said Deborah Stephan.

Stephan is the president of HCC’s Brandon campus. She says the financial technology program came to be after working with the City of Tampa’s Workforce Development Council, and HCC is proud to be the first in the state offering it.

“FinTech is one of the fastest growing industries globally, not just in Tampa Bay, but it’s also growing in Tampa Bay,” she said.

Registration for the fall semester is now open. The JP Morgan Chase Foundation is providing 20 $1,000 scholarships for students in the program. (Spectrum Bay News 9/Fallon Silcox)

Mo Kotaiche, the program director, gave Spectrum News a tour of the lab.

“FinTech impact in Tampa Bay is approximately $13 billion annual today, and we anticipate by the year 2027 we’ll have a minimum of 12,000 employed in fintech,” said Kotaiche.

The Financial Technology lab at HCC was designed to be like a FinTech workspace, rather than a typical classroom.

“We hide the podium, we don’t really like to lecture students, we sit with them and go through experiential methods to teach them hands on practice,” said Kotaiche.

He says FinTech covers a lot — from cybersecurity and bitcoin to artificial intelligence.

“We blend all of this into the curriculum so when you leave the college you have pretty well rounded knowledge of the topic of financial technologies,” Kotaiche said.

And with that knowledge, students are prepared for the future of finance.

Registration for the fall semester is now open. The program’s development was made possible with a $350,000 grant from JPMorganChase, HCC said, with money earmarked for 20 stipends of $1,000 each.

There is a two-year associate’s degree program, and also a certificate program. For more information, you can contact HCC directly.