Home Economics is an interdisciplinary field of study that covers various subjects such as: family studies, food/nutrition, clothing/textiles, and consumer economics/personal finance. In recent years the field of study that was once referred to as Home Economics has been re-branded to Family and Consumer Sciences.
Most high schools, adult schools, colleges, and universities offer some or many of the courses that one would find in a Family and Consumer Sciences program. In the local area the Greater San Francisco Bay Area / Greater Sacramento Metropolitan Area, there has been significant changes in the course and degree offerings at the college and university levels.
Solano College used to offer a degree in Home Economics. This degree and certificate option was last listed in their 2011-2012 catalog. View the Solano College 2011-2012 catalog here: http://www.solano.edu/catalog/1112/SCCCatalog201011.pdf. Solano College still offers some Home Economics related classes, but the major no longer exists there.
UC Davis is in the process of phasing out their Textiles & Clothing and Fiber & Polymers degree programs. See the links below for more information:
https://www.ucdavis.edu/majors/textiles-and-clothing/
https://www.ucdavis.edu/majors/fiber-and-polymer-science/
California State University Sacramento currently has a Family and Consumer Science program with four different areas of study. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.csus.edu/facs/
This article is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all of the colleges and universities in the area that offer courses and majors in Family and Consumer Science, but rather to demonstrate the trend in Home Economics / Family and Consumer Science in education. For those who are interested in Family and Consumer Sciences, there are various professional groups and organizations dedicated to Family and Consumer Sciences. Among these are:
- American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
http://www.aafcs.org/home - FamilyConsumerSciences.com
http://www.familyconsumersciences.com/ - National Council on Family Relations
https://www.ncfr.org/ - National Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences
http://www.neafcs.org/
The Fairfield-Suisun Adult School offers several “Home Economics / Family and Consumer Science” courses. Please visit us at: https://www.fsusd.org/fsas. This summer, I will be teaching Consumer Economics and Personal Finance at the Fairfield-Suisun Adult School.