COSC and FEMA, a game changer.

[sanantone]

From my understanding, TESC accepts FEMA certificates like they are professional certifications. I don't know if all the IT certifications accepted by the Big 3 are ACE evaluated, but I guess those along with other technical and medical certifications would be the closest comparison to FEMAs. The biggest difference, though, is that FEMAs are open book and non-proctored.

[cookderosa]

I love the FEMA acceptance too, but I've also wondered about how they do this. I guess its a "rule of thumb" type of approach: the RA committee(s) give the schools some leeway, but if the school starts to "smell bad" then they start really pitching a fit. If one school does something, then another will do something + 1, and another will do something +1 +1. Before you know it the whole idea of RA is reduced to life-experience diploma mill. Gotta rein it in sometime while still letting schools differentiate themselves.

Don't get me started on TESC's "portfolio" crap. I've actually seen TESC (favorably) described as a "life experience" school because of that. I wish they'd drop it, because I think it makes them look way worse than necessary to other institutions and students.

Technically, any RA school can't award life experience credit or degrees. But, there are work arounds!

[rkleem]

I guess the question now would be... How many can you use as electives and where would they fit if someone tried to do that? I've read over COSC concentration areas of study guide. The gen ed requirements and the concentration areas make sense, but couldn't figure out where and how free electives fit in there.

[rebel100]

I don't know for sure, but I strongly suspect it would be 60 (total required for an AA) - 36 Gen Ed = 24 FEMA. The AA would then loosely translate and you would need your concentration and UL courses....but I am just guessing really. It's sort of uncharted territory.

[dcan]

I'm not up on COSC but I've read elsewhere that their fees dropped dramatically and you can now graduate from there for considerably less than $1,000 in COSC fees. So does that mean this cost structure applies to this approach at COSC now?

• 12 (or less) tests (36 credits): $1,200
  
• 24 FEMAs: Free
  
• COSC capstone and graduation: < $1,000
  
• Total: < $2,200
  

And then the next question is, what 4-year degree (COSC or otherwise) will 24 FEMAs be applicable towards?

[burbuja0512]

Wow... I don't log into the forum for a week or so and look at all I miss!!

I chose not to do FEMA's when I was at COSC for two reasons.
1) the cost
2) They only count towards non-liberal arts credits and do NOT count towards the general ed requirements. By the time I learned about FEMA, I didn't need many of those.

Now that they are free, it REALLY makes COSC an attractive choice if you're counting your pennies. However, they are still possibly less valuable than at TESC, depending on what you're doing.

Here's what I mean: With the FEMA's at TESC, you can get the AAS in Environmental Safety & Security while you work your way towards a Bachelors. This AAS would be totally worthless to some people, but is definitely more valuable than the generic AS or AA that you can get at COSC. This may be a non-issue because an Associates degree won't get you a job in this economy, however if you were leaning towards a career in the EH&S world, this would be a great way to get into an entry-level position.


However, there are significant advantages to COSC that TESC doesn't share. First of all, they openly accept anyone 16 and older, compared to TESC's 21. I have heard that it's easy to get around this requirement, but if you don't want to hassle, COSC is a good option. COSC is also cheaper, but more importantly, the cost can be managed in bite-sized chunks rather than having a large tuition payment due at once. At COSC, non-Connecticut residents only have to pay $220 a semester plus your class fees. It could work out to be more expensive than TESC in the long run, depending on what you do, but it's nice to have options.

[catfish]

Hello I am coming to this thread a little late, but I wanted to thank everyone who posted the information on this. It is indeed a game changer and sealed my decision. Thanks so much.

[rebel100]

Hello I am coming to this thread a little late, but I wanted to thank everyone who posted the information on this. It is indeed a game changer and sealed my decision. Thanks so much.

Classy first post, glad it helped you!