Utilizing FEMA credits toward an Emergency Management Degree

[vsantos316]

I understand 25 credits from FEMA apply for the free credits.

In the Bachelors degree Program the other 15 or so credits in my area of focus ( emergency disaster services) must they be Theory or Applied .. or does it matter?

[annegirl]

I understand 25 credits from FEMA apply for the free credits.

In the Bachelors degree Program the other 15 or so credits in my area of focus must they be Theory or Applied .. or does it matter?

For a BSHS in Emergency Disaster Services it doesn't matter where you put the FEMAs. If you have classes in Theory and need to fill in Applied you can do so, or the other way around. Whatever works best for you.

Just to clarify, you may use 25 FEMA total. So 15 for your area of focus means that you can only use 10 others for free electives.

Good luck! Are you going for a BSHS in Emergency Disaster Services? If you are I would love to throw some class info and such your way. I did so much research for my degree, I would love it if someone else could use it too.

[vsantos316]

I'm thinking about pursing a emergency management degree but 500 hours seems like a lot. Do you know if this is still the requirement?

On the website I only found that for the advanced practicum you need experience in the field.. something along those lines

.. im honestly looking for the most affordable degree still researching.

if you don't mind me asking how much did your degree cost in total.. or should I say knowing what you know now( scholarships, discount ext. ) how much would a em degree cost around?

[annegirl]

I'm thinking about pursing a emergency management degree but 500 hours seems like a lot. Do you know if this is still the requirement?

On the website I only found that for the advanced practicum you need experience in the field.. something along those lines

.. im honestly looking for the most affordable degree still researching.

if you don't mind me asking how much did your degree cost in total.. or should I say knowing what you know now( scholarships, discount ext. ) how much would a em degree cost around?

I'm not sure what you're meaning about the 500 hours. In order to be accepted for the BSHS in Emergency Disaster Services you must have 1500 hours of part time or volunteer service or at least a year of full time work in the field. They require "significant experience in the field" to even get into the program.

The advanced practicum requires that you write a paper on how to apply what you've learned to change something about your organization for the better. I wrote my practicum on how the American Red Cross needed to restructure to ease volunteer burnout and paid staff tension during present economic difficulties.

As far as expense goes, it really depends on you. I spent a lot of time researching and discussing things with TESC. I used as many CLEPs and DSSTs as possible, did all the FEMA they would accept, had previous credit from a B&M school and was able to take some cheaper classes from Central Georgia Tech (a friend pointed me in that direction, great place to take EM classes!!) and took a couple of TECEPs an ECE and I took advantage of beta testing for a couple of classes which made them free for me.

If you look on the previous page you can take a look at my degree plan and plug your credits in and that will give you an idea of what you're looking at, cost wise. I spent a lot of my time studying so that I would only have 1 year of enrollment with TESC so that is another thing to consider (I did something like 80 credits in 10 months). Cost really depends on how committed you are to doing the work and research to get things as cheap as possible.

Honestly, if you don't have any background work or volunteer with EM you're probably going to want to look into a different degree. There are cheaper ways out there that have less hoops to jump through.

What are your career goals?

[vsantos316]

Thanks for your advice since I'm looking for a degree as soon as possible don't think EM would work since I don't have any hours like you said.

I enjoy teaching, helping others and traveling if possible. So I was thinking TESOL Teacher and most of the qualifications for overseas teacher is a Bachelors Degree in any subject.

Thanks again for your time and input