A path to 18?

[High_Order1]

So,

Continuing to research more, I think I understand that some teaching jobs only require 18 grad credit hours in the AOS.


IS there a path similar to my bachelors for this?

For instance, I'd like to be able to teach criminal justice-type courses.

Could I find some low-cost / low-impact education credits (like how to teach online, or how to teach period) and then sprinkle a couple of CJ 500 or above credits in there?

I realize it is potentially six classes, but I need it to be on my schedule, and in my pocket range, so I can accept chunking this up and dumping it into somewhere else to tally the credits like how I did for the bachelors.

Surely I'm reinventing the wheel here, and someone else already has this figured out, right? Right? LOL

Thanks!

[Ideas]

Unfortunately it's hard to find grad credits that are self-paced and/or cheap. The cheap ones are mostly in the EDU field. Occasionally we see something else, like recently there's 1-3 poetry classes, but I've been looking and not seeing much in a specific field besides EDU.

Grad certs are often about 12-18 credits, but they tend to be about $2500-3000 minimum. I guess it depends on your budget. Some people would say that's fine. But most certs also involve real classes, not self-paced.

[dfrecore]

Schools like APU have decently priced grad school courses ($350/cr), but that's as low as I find most stuff.

ENMU has a deal where it's $282/cr as long as you take 6cr or fewer per term. They don't have a CJ masters online, but WNMU does - I'm just not sure they have the same deal. If so, then that's about as good of a price as you're going to get.

So far, no one has a competency-based MA in CJ, although a couple of schools have one for a BA (APU, U of Wisconsin Flex, and Patten's BA in Psych/CJ). So there may be some coming in the future, where you could take 6 courses in a term, and not finish but get the credits you need.

[Ideas]

Of course taking max 6 cr per term means an entire year to get to 18. Maybe more because many schools have so few offerings in their summer terms.

It's better to do part of a self-paced Masters, which dfrecore was bringing up. But one term of a competency-based Masters is usually $2500-$3500. It's only $1996 at Patten. There aren't many competency-based Masters to choose from which are in this price range. Most are MBAs or for already-licensed teachers.

[dfrecore]

Of course taking max 6 cr per term means an entire year to get to 18. Maybe more because many schools have so few offerings in their summer terms.

It's better to do part of a self-paced Masters, which dfrecore was bringing up. But one term of a competency-based Masters is usually $2500-$3500. It's only $1996 at Patten. There aren't many competency-based Masters to choose from which are in this price range. Most are MBAs or for already-licensed teachers.

But there are no CJ courses at the Graduate level, that was the part High_Order1 was asking about.

[Ideas]

But there are no CJ courses at the Graduate level, that was the part High_Order1 was asking about.

Yeah. Just saying since CJ is going to be expensive, he should consider possibly an MBA or other kind of grad credits. We had PMed, so I know a little about the end goals.

Psychology is a little like CJ But I think there's a lot more competition because lots of people go for Psychology degrees

[Sagan]

Being technically qualified to teach a subject and actually getting a job doing it are two entirely different things. The 18-hour rule we read so much about is used rarely to appoint people under one of two circumstances; either they really want you teaching for them and can get you qualified with the minimum number of hours or (related) they really need you for a hard-to-fill slot.

We see the same phenomenon with people talking about getting a doctorate via distance learning in order to teach as an adjunct. Yes, it improves your chances, but it's no quid pro quo. It's not like schools are sitting around wondering when the next graduate from Capella or Phoenix is going to come knocking.

Before undertaking any educational objective, it's really wise to determine (to the extent possible) whether or not it will meet your desired professional outcome. In this case, I would wan to know a school is dying to have me teach and is just waiting for me to get the hours done. Otherwise, it's a dubious pursuit.

[Ideas]

Yeah, 18 is usually the minimum so they don't trash your application right away

[cookderosa]

if I understand the question, you'd like to double dip grad credits to serve two purposes: AOS in your undergrad degree and also 18 graduate-level credits for teaching. I think this will backfire. I'm not 100% sure that all schools do what TESU and allow grad credit to come in as upper level undergrad, but if they do, I worry that it will be coded undergrad on your transcript.

You need a masters IN the subject or a masters in ANY subject +18. So, you still need the master's one way or another.

[dfrecore]

if I understand the question, you'd like to double dip grad credits to serve two purposes:  AOS in your undergrad degree and also 18 graduate-level credits for teaching.  I think this will backfire.  I'm not 100% sure that all schools do what TESU and allow grad credit to come in as upper level undergrad, but if they do, I worry that it will be coded undergrad on your transcript.

You need a masters IN the subject or a masters in ANY subject +18.  So, you still need the master's one way or another.

I don't think so - I think OP is very close to finishing the BA and is now looking at Grad credits.