FEMA & FREE College Credit courses

[snazzlefrag]

I got my response from the advisor today, here it is:

[INDENT]Thank you for your message. Excelsior College accepts all FEMA (EMI) courses which come to us on an official transcript from Frederick Community College. These courses are degree level and usually are worth one credit per course. They apply toward degree requirements as Applied Professional Elective credit (you need about 12 credits in this area).

In order to get your FEMA courses listed on an official Frederick Community College (FCC) transcript, you need to complete an application for independent study college credit, which you can download (Adobe PDF) from http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/downloads/ccrdtapp.pdf . The completed application may be mailed or faxed; details are on the form. The list of possible courses for credit can be found at http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/IS/cc.asp . The FCC fee for this is $60 per course (please check, as this fee might have changed since we updated our information).

It will not be necessary to go through Thomas Edison to get credit for the FEMA courses. FYI, enrollment in a credit bank program is not the same thing as enrollment in a degree program. Excelsior also offers a credit bank service, and it is less expensive than being enrolled in a degree program. Students who enroll in a credit bank program do not want to earn a degree; rather, they want to list all of their college-level credit on one document for the purpose of presentation to an employer, graduate school, etc.

I hope this information is helpful, and please contact me again if you have any questions about this information.
[/INDENT]
This is basically what we already knew, gotta pay the $60 to FCC.

She mentions these apply to Applied Professional Elective credits, in my case business credits. I would like to know if maybe I can use these to replace an upper level business exam, so I'm asking the advisor if these FEMA courses would be considered Upper or Lower level credit. I'll post when I get a response.

Aaaaaw,

She completely missed the whole point of the question. We know that they accept FCC-transcripted credits from FEMA. However, what we were all waiting to find out was, whether or not they accept FEMA credits that have been transcripted via TESC's Credit Bank service.

The key issue being that FCC charges $60/credit, but TESC only charges approximately $250.00 for anything upto 60 credits.

Eg, I have 12 FEMA credits. If I transcript them via FCC, the cost would be $720. However, if I transcript them through TESC Credit Bank (because they have evaluated FEMA credits and are RA), the cost would only be $250....regardless of whether I have 12 FEMA credits or 60.

The guy who posted on degreeinfo.com last August said that he was able to transfer all 30+ of his FEMA credits simply by setting up a TESC credit bank, and then having Excelsior transfer the credits in.

It would have been nice to hear the definitive policy directly from the horse's mouth!

Oh well!

Thanks for trying Anar....you rock!
Snazzlefrag

[anar579]

When I get a response about the upper/lower level of credit granted, I'll call and ask them a question over the phone, giving the cost-savings angle. I, too, wouldn't care much to transfer in these courses at $60 a credit. Maybe Excelsior's own credit bank would be an option as well. Again, I'll ask about this stuff in a couple of days.

[snazzlefrag]

When I get a response about the upper/lower level of credit granted, I'll call and ask them a question over the phone, giving the cost-savings angle. I, too, wouldn't care much to transfer in these courses at $60 a credit. Maybe Excelsior's own credit bank would be an option as well. Again, I'll ask about this stuff in a couple of days.

Anar,

Excelsior has not evluated the FEMA courses for credit. That is why we must first have them transcripted by an RA college that HAS evaluated them.

Otherwise, we could simply have FEMA mail Excelsior our raw course transcript directly. There would be no need to go through FCC or TESC etc.

Excelsior will accept the FEMA credits (as transfer credit) if another RA school is willing to first place them on their transcript. But they will not accept the raw courses directly from FEMA.

Make sense?

[sirjake]

[SIZE="4"]Senate panel calls for abolishing FEMA[/SIZE]
[SIZE="3"]Bipartisan investigation finds disaster agency beyond repair[/SIZE]

Read the rest here:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/27/katrina.fema/

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q...earch+News

[snazzlefrag]

Senate panel calls for abolishing FEMA
Bipartisan investigation finds disaster agency beyond repair

Read the rest here:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/27/katrina.fema/

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q...earch+News

I knoooow, I saw that too!

It adds a bit of pressure to get the credits 'RA Transcripted' sooner rather than later. Once you have the FEMA credits on an RA transcript, they are safe.

Not sure what would happen if FEMA is abolished though.

[RBOWMAN]

If I could make a small political observation...the post about "hurrying" to get on this program before it goes away, well given FEMA'S sense of "hurriedness" we probably can hold our water longer than they did!!!hilarious hilarious

[anar579]

It seems they won't be officially gone for a while, another hurricane season is about to begin. I'm sure they'll try to redeem themselves. Anyway, I'm sure there's about a year left, at least. I wouldn't worry.

[ShotoJuku]

[SIZE="4"]Has any [COLOR="Purple"]Excelsior [/COLOR]students had any success with gaining credit yet???

If so, perhaps I can take just one of these and then try to tackle algebra by itself giving me a total of 4 needed credits.

Any hints on which is the fastest and easiest??? Do any count as math??

Thanks!![/SIZE]

[snazzlefrag]

Has any Excelsior students had any success with gaining credit yet???

If so, perhaps I can take just one of these and then try to tackle algebra by itself giving me a total of 4 needed credits.

Any hints on which is the fastest and easiest??? Do any count as math??

Thanks!!

Yes,

An online friend of mine needed just two more credits to graduate at Excelsior. So he took two of the FEMA courses in one evening, and sent off the $60 per credit transcript fee to Frederick Community College the next day.

Excelsior accepted the credits and he got his diploma yesterday.

He confirmed everything with Excelsior, just to guarantee their acceptance of the credits. Excelsior told him (in writing) that they accept ANY/ALL FEMA credits, as long as they are on an RA transcript.

They apply the FEMA credits as "Applied Professional" electives (not math, sadly).

If I were you, I would do a course like "Leadership & Influence". It is only 25 questions instead of their usual 50, and it won't sound too "FEMA-ish" on your transcript. This quiz can be completed in a an hour or so (open book/untimed).

Hope that helps,
Snazzlefrag

[ShotoJuku]

Yes,

An online friend of mine needed just two more credits to graduate at Excelsior. So he took two of the FEMA courses in one evening, and sent off the $60 per credit transcript fee to Frederick Community College the next day.

Excelsior accepted the credits and he got his diploma yesterday.

He confirmed everything with Excelsior, just to guarantee their acceptance of the credits. Excelsior told him (in writing) that they accept ANY/ALL FEMA credits, as long as they are on an RA transcript.

They apply the FEMA credits as "Applied Professional" electives (not math, sadly).

If I were you, I would do a course like "Leadership & Influence". It is only 25 questions instead of their usual 50, and it won't sound too "FEMA-ish" on your transcript. This quiz can be completed in a an hour or so (open book/untimed).

Hope that helps,
Snazzlefrag

[SIZE="3"]Excellent news!!! I will knock out that class for 1 credit which will bring me to 117 credit hours and then tackle algebra for the last 3 bringing me to the required 120. THANKS!!![/SIZE]