How to accomplish 30 credit hours of science for job promotion

[Dale2023]

I’m currently a Consumer Safety Inspector and possibly within the next year I’d like to start the process of furthering my current career with FSIS to EIAO.
However, I would need to complete at least 30 semester hours of related course work (i.e. consumer laws, biological sciences, food science, chemistry, pharmacy, physical sciences, food technology, nutrition, medical science, engineering, epidemiology, veterinary medical science, legal investigations, law enforcement, or related scientific fields that provide knowledge directly related to consumer safety officer work). Although, a degree would be ideal, it’s not required. I’ve heard of former CSI attending courses online or at TAMU to achieve those credits. However, I’m unsure where to start the process and I was wondering If anyone can provide any feedback on step would need to take to get those hours.
 

[ss20ts]

Will ACE credit be acceptable or is RA credit a requirement? That's probably the first thing to find out.

[rachel83az]

Definitely find out if ACE is acceptable or if it needs to be credit from an actual college or university. Sometimes, they don't care where the credit comes from, so long as it's on an actual college/university transcript. Other times, all credit will need to be from an RA college or university.

Do you already have a degree at all?

[Dale2023]

Will ACE credit be acceptable or is RA credit a requirement? That's probably the first thing to find out.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. 
I'm not sure at the moment, I'll will definitely check into it.

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Definitely find out if ACE is acceptable or if it needs to be credit from an actual college or university. Sometimes, they don't care where the credit comes from, so long as it's on an actual college/university transcript. Other times, all credit will need to be from an RA college or university.

Do you already have a degree at all?

Thanks.
Unfortunately, I do not.

[rachel83az]

That's actually great! Because if ACE/NCCRS credits are accepted on a college/university transcript, you could get the FREE Pierpont degree: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pierpont_C%26TC

You could get an Area of Emphasis in Biology really easily with ACE credits, then add other misc. science credits to get to 30.

If they need to be 30 RA science credits, you could still get the Pierpont degree with those credits + ACE credits, though it might not be immediately applicable to your situation.

[Dale2023]

rachel83az pid='383500' dateline='1670964931']That's actually great! Because if ACE/NCCRS credits are accepted on a college/university transcript, you could get the FREE Pierpont degree: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Pierpont_C%26TC

You could get an Area of Emphasis in Biology really easily with ACE credits, then add other misc. science credits to get to 30.

If they need to be 30 RA science credits, you could still get the Pierpont degree with those credits + ACE credits, though it might not be immediately applicable to your situation.

Great! To be quite honest, I'm not sure what a RA or ACH was until I googled.
I appreciate your help a lot as try to further my career.
Also, I've attached the original article that came out in the newsletter.
To better understand what's required.  
  CSO BEACON ARTICLE.doc (Size: 27 KB / Downloads: 12)

[rachel83az]

However, other continuing education classes, while job-related and reimbursable, will be creditable only if they have been evaluated and given college credit by an accredited college or university and are in one of the scientific fields that qualify for the GS-696 series

I am 99% certain that this means that ACE credit is acceptable - especially as part of a Pierpont degree. This is great for you.

Biology: 

• Human Biology @ Sophia
  
• Study.com: 
  • Biology 101: Intro to Biology (I don't think you need 101L - Biology with lab; labs at SDC are an additional fee)
    
  • Biology 102: Basic Genetics
    
  • Biology 103: Microbiology
    
  • Biology 105: Anatomy & Physiology
    
  • Biology 106: Pathophysiology
    
  • Biology 107L: Clinical Microbiology w/ Lab
    
  • Genetics 101: Intro to Genetics (Pierpont might or might not count this the same as Biology 102)
    
• Arizona State University Universal Learner ($25 + $400 transcription fee per class):
  • BIO-100 The Living World
    
• StraighterLine:
  • Anatomy & Physiology I (likely overlap with Biology 105 @ SDC)
    
  • Anatomy & Physiology II
    
  • Microbiology (likely overlap with Biology 103 @ SDC)
    

For the Pierpont degree, you need 5 classes (15 credits) in a subject for you to be able to get an Area of Emphasis. You also only need a single graded RA credit, which you can get at ASU for $25. And/or you could take BIO-100 from ASU for Biology credit.

Additional ACE science credits:

Chemistry: Chemistry @ Sophia (lab is included for free); Chemistry 101: General Chemistry @ SDC. May be overlapping @ Pierpont. Chemistry 112L: Chemistry II with Lab @ SDC.
Environmental Science: Environmental Science @ Sophia. BIO-130 Introduction to Environmental Science @ ASU UL. May overlap @ Pierpont.
Microbiology: See biology above
Nutrition: Introduction to Nutrition @ Sophia
Pharmacology: Pharmacology @ Straighterline

Sophia is $99/mo. Until the end of the year, first month is $79 with code AMBASSADOR20.
Study.com is $199/mo. Includes 2 exams. Additional exams are $70. Can purchase up to 3 additional exams per month.
StraighterLine is $99/mo. + cost of course itself. Example: Anatomy & Physiology II would be $59 to "purchase", plus $99/mo. until you finished the course. 

I would suggest starting at Sophia, getting as much as you can there, then doing Study.com. Round off with ASU's BIO-100 for $425 or CIS-194 for $25. If still not at 30 science credits, add StraighterLine and/or more ASU courses.

[sanantone]

It looks like you technically don't need 30 science credits; you need 30 credits from what's on that list, and not all of those subjects are sciences. The cheapest and fastest way to get those credits would probably be through LawShelf. CLEP/DSST would probably be second fastest/cheapest, especially if you're in Texas because some of the community colleges here give 4 to 8 credits for science exams. I don't know which state you're in, but I saw that you mentioned TAMU. While not the cheapest, Coopersmith would also be pretty fast.

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There are also three science exams at Davar. They're $70 each.

[rachel83az]

Pierpont doesn't really take NCCRS. At least, not easily. So, I wouldn't recommend LawShelf or Davar. It would be a pretty big waste of money to take those classes and then not be able to transcript them at Pierpont.

[sanantone]

Pierpont doesn't really take NCCRS. At least, not easily. So, I wouldn't recommend LawShelf or Davar. It would be a pretty big waste of money to take those classes and then not be able to transcript them at Pierpont.

Is taking a TECEP still an option for getting a TESU transcript?