Can you help me plan my degree path?

[rebel100]

Quite a few of your FEMA is already assessed and eligible for credit at a couple of schools. COSC will take it free of cost direct from FEMA, Excelsior will take it for the FCC fee of about $80/credit,TESC does not accept FEMA anymore. You can check against this list https://training.fema.gov/is/crslist.aspx anything listed as "college credit" here will be accepted at COSC.

[dfrecore]

There is so much there, but I don't think most will count at TESU for anything, they do not have the most generous policy with granting credit if it's not ACE or something specific on their website.

The first thing you need to look at is each school, and the degrees they offer. For instance, TESU offers a degree in Homeland Security, but it's not going to be easy to take all of the required courses; EC offers a degree in CJ with a concentration in Homeland Security, and while they have less hard requirements for the degree, you will need a lot of UL courses in Homeland Security that will be more difficult to find; COSC probably has something similar (their website is down at this moment so I can't look). The problem is not that the degree doesn't exist, it's just that the courses will be expensive.

The next thing you might want to do is apply at all 3. It's $75 or $100 for each app, and see what happens. COSC is usually much better about giving credits for different things, so they would be a good bet. But it can't hurt to apply at the other 2.

As davewill recommended, you also want to look at the PLA process, and a good starting point is the free PLA course through Kaplan. Besides getting you 3cr free through ACE, it's a good way to show you what you would need to do for TESU's PLA process. Now, I'm not recommending it INSTEAD OF TESU's PLA course, I just think you might want to take it as a first step to see what would be required of you if you wanted to go the PLA route. If you decided to do it (it might be the very best thing for you to get a TON of credits, especially UL ones), then take the free Kaplan course (https://opencollege.kaplan.com/opencollege/LRC100/), actually going through all of the steps, but not actually creating a PLA. Next, research TESU's PLA process on here, there are people who have successfully managed to work through that system for credits. The price is fantastic. Search on this forum for it.

Next, you may want to look at some other schools with HLS degrees that might be cheaper than one of the Big 3. SNHU has a degree, so does APUS. Do more searching. There will be people on this forum who have info on this.

Also, there may be some alternate possibilities for you. The first is an AA in Liberal Studies/General Studies through the Big 3 followed by a BA from another school. Another option is a BA in CJ from one of the Big 3, followed by a MA in HLS. That might give you the most bang for your buck, especially if the CJ degree isn't helpful to making you stand out from the crowd.

So look at all 3 schools, at their degree options, and also think about how you could use them as a stepping stone to something else. I understand wanting to test out, but for your degree choice, that will be more difficult than a lot of the others.

Here are some options for taking your CJ/HLS courses:
CSU-Global has a bunch, all are UL, this is a testing-out option for $250/course
Propero.org has a bunch, not sure if they're UL or not (a lot won't be), $300/course, not sure how the course works
CSU-Pueblo IS has a bunch, many UL, they are independent-study courses for $495 each

[High_Order1]

Why did Thomas Edison discontinue accepting FEMA courses?

Thanks for all the responses, by the way!

[rebel100]

I'm one of the Charter oak guys, though any of the schools you see talked about here are generally good choices. I would probably have gone to TESU had they been more polite and helpful on the phone.

So at COSC I think you would have somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 credits between your old CC, Police Academy, and FEMA. I don't think you would need further electives. You are lacking in the general education requirements. In my signature there is a link for COSC using FEMA for an AS degree....look at that to get an idea of exactly what you need. All of them can be readily tested out of via CLEP/DSST or taken as a cheap and fast class through Straighterline. That's where I would recommend you start. This will total around 10-12 exams/courses or 30-36 credits. That plus the cornerstone course at COSC ($1200 or so)would give you an AS in Emergency Management/CJ. The cost of the exams could be as low as $1000 or so and you could do them very quickly if your motivated, maybe by years end or even sooner. You wouldn't have to even get the AS, but you will have to complete the general Eds for any degree, so the AS would be a nice marker along the way.

For a BS/BA it gets a little bit trickier, what I said above applies. Plus you will need at least 9 Upper Level (UL, 300-400) courses/exams. You could probably put togehter a combo of social science/history with testing plus a course or two. Something Organizational Leadership/Social Science Might also be largely possible via testing/creative courses. There is a capstone required ($1200 or so) plus the cost of the exams and courses...can probably be done with as little as $1500, but if you elected UL self paced courses from say, CSU-Pueblo it could be a great deal more (like $4000 or so). Again how fast you move is up to your ability and resolve....but possible for around $6000 (ish) total to the BS/BA and could be done in 12-18 months.

TESU will be a better bet if you really want to stay out of the classroom, but you will have more to do overall since they won't take all that FEMA. They would be potentially cheaper overall by a couple grand.




Roane State Community College

DSM 081* DS Elem Algebra 5
PST 213 UG Criminal Inv 3
SOC 202 UG Social Prob 3

DSM 082* DS Int Algebra 5
PST 111 UG Criminal Proc 3

EHT 211 UG Safe/Emer Resp 3
PST 101 UG Int Law Enforce 3


Walters' State Community College

Basic Police Education - certificate 21-23?

[rebel100]

Why did Thomas Edison discontinue accepting FEMA courses?

Thanks for all the responses, by the way!

Things change all the time, I'm not sure anyone ever got a specific reason.

Welcome to the forum BTW

[KayV]

OP, I noticed that you took these classes:
Roane State Comm College Preventing Sexual Harassment
Roane State Comm College Preventing Sexual Harassment (2015)
Roane State Comm College Nondiscrimination & Harrassment Tng NDHT 2015
Roane State Comm College FERPA Basics Seminar

These look like employee orientation sorts of questions. If you taught classes at Roane, you might be eligible for credit for those classes at TESU.

[High_Order1]

Thanks for the welcome!

I've taught across the country, but non credit. I taught two classes as an extension of the University of Tennessee, but I have no proof of that besides pictures.

Quick question -

I am looking at COSC's General Education requirements.

Would they consider any of my courses I listed in lieu of?

For example:

written and oral communication - I have a couple of instructor development classes. Wouldn't that cover the oral, and I've taken report writing several times, wouldn't that cover the written part?

[rebel100]

Thanks for the welcome!

I've taught across the country, but non credit. I taught two classes as an extension of the University of Tennessee, but I have no proof of that besides pictures.

Quick question -

I am looking at COSC's General Education requirements.

Would they consider any of my courses I listed in lieu of?

For example:

written and oral communication - I have a couple of instructor development classes. Wouldn't that cover the oral, and I've taken report writing several times, wouldn't that cover the written part?

The oral you can almost certainly obtain a waiver for COSC (and just about all colleges) will require English Comp 1 and 2. There are exams for these, or Straighterline Courses, or a combination of same. (I like SL Comp 1 followed by the DSST Technical Writing...probably be fastest way, COSC acceppts Technical Writing as English Comp 2). I don't believe you will find a regionally accredited college that wont require a 6 credit sequence in English Comp, this is almost certainly not crdit that a PLA or other alternative credit will satisfy.

Other than the Oral Waiver, I think you also meet the Social / behavioral Science requirement, but that's about it.

[High_Order1]

Just finishing up another (work related) class, and noticed this:
https://teex.org/Pages/Class.aspx?course...umentation

Would this satisfy part of the english / writing requirements? The advantage here for me is I could also use that towards my continuing education credits for my licenses....

[rebel100]

Just finishing up another (work related) class, and noticed this:
https://teex.org/Pages/Class.aspx?course...umentation

Would this satisfy part of the english / writing requirements? The advantage here for me is I could also use that towards my continuing education credits for my licenses....

I highly doubt it.