Solicitation of Advice

[a_dblu]

Your Location: Kansas

Your Age: 39

What kind of degree do you want? I need a bachelor's, any bachelor's, to be promoted (not a change of duties, just a raise and additional job security.) I have a lot of interests and several options I need help narrowing them down. I have until July of 2024 to complete my first bachelor's.
 
Current Regional Accredited Credits: I have 174ish LL RA Hours.... and yet will still have to take several gen eds to finish a bachelor's. Thanks, AAS degrees!

I am looking at TESU most thoroughly, I'm thinking that I could probably earn dual associates while completing 1 (possibly two) simultaneous bachelor's. I'm looking at the ASNSM in Biology and an AA (the Biology Degree would be a bit of a detour but would help with my current job, I think the the AA degree should be fairly easy to get as I have so many LL electives.)  The bachelor's I am looking at are the BALS, with concentrations in Psychology and Social Sciences and the BS of Professional Studies.  Homeland Security and Emergency Management might also be a good fit as I have a number of Emergency Management and Public Safety credits, certifications, and credentials. 

In my current job, I work for a subdivision of a subsidiary of Kansas State University. University policy allows for employees to take 1 course per semester from the university with no tuition (I still pay fees.) I am planning to use this to get UL coursework and specific courses that I think will help me in my current role.

The thread is always too long to post when I add in my transcripts, so I will add them in the replies.

Thank You!

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I also have a few credits from Cowley County Community College (which you can see on the ACC transcript.)

I also have EM 348: Hospital Emergency Response Training for Mass Casualty Incidents (3 semester hours) from Jacksonville State University in Alabama.

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Allen Community College; Total Credits: 94ish
Class Name, Credits, Grade: See attached Transcript
A.A.S. Paramedicine
Hutchinson Community College; Total Credits: 100
Class Name, Credits, Grade: See attached Transcript
A.A.S. Fire Science
Coffeyville Community College/Area Technical School; Total Credits: 4
Class Name,                  Credits,     Grade:
EMTP132 Instructor CPR       1.00 CR       P
EMTP275 Training Officer     1.00 CR       P
EMTP285 Training Officer II  2.00 CR       P
Jacksonville State University
Approximately 3 Hours LL credit in emergency management.

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits:
National Emergency Training Center, Emergency Management Institute;  Total Credits: 6, 6 UL
Class Name,                                          Credits,                    Grade
Foundations of Emergency Management         6 UL emergency management,                         P
                                                                 organizational management, or public administration (4/17).

National Emergency Training Center, National Fire Academy;    Total Credits: 22, 8 UL
Class Name,                                          Credits,                    Grade

Applications of                             3 UL in risk management, fire prevention,                        P
Community Risk                           or public safety administration
Reduction

Applications of                             3 LL in fire science, occupational safety,                           P
Leadership and the                       or risk management
Culture of Safety
 
Best Practices in Community          1 LL in fire science, emergency management,                   P
Risk Reduction                             disaster mitigation, or public safety 
 
Building Organizational Support     1 LL in fire science, emergency management,                    P
for Community Risk Reduction       disaster mitigation, or public safety 
 
Fire Service Safety                                1 LL in fire science, emergency management,                    P
Culture: Who Protects                   or public safety
Firefighters from
Firefighters
 
Fire Service                                 1 LL in personnel or human resource management,            P
Supervision: Self                          business or public administration, fire science,
Study                                          fire administration, or EMS administration.
 
Leadership in                               1 LL in leadership or management                                     P
Supervision: Creating
Environments for
Professional Growth
 
Leadership in                               1 LL in leadership                                                           P
Supervision:
Frameworks to
Success
 
Leadership in                               1 LL in leadership or management                                   P
Perspectives in
Thinking
 
Leadership Strategies                    3 UL in public administration, risk                                   P
for Community Risk                       management, emergency management, 
Reduction                                     or disaster mitigation and preparedness
 
Politics and the White                    1 UL in fire service administration or                               P
Helmet                                         public safety administration 
 
Self-Study Course for                     1 LL in fire science, adult education,                               P
Community Safety                          general education, public health, or safety studies
Educators
 
Shaping the Future                        1 LL in fire service administration                                    P
 
Wildland Urban                             1 LL in fire science or emergency management                 P 
Interface Firefighting
for the Structural
Company Officer
 
Youth Firesetter                           1 LL in fire prevention, fire science, risk management,         P
Intervention Specialist                   or psychology    
 
Youth Firesetter                           1 UL in fire prevention, psychology, sociology, 
Program Manager                         or developmental education

SOPHIA Learning, LLC; Total Credits: 2
Class Name,                                          Credits,                    Grade

Developing Effective Teams             1LL introduction to leadership or introduction                  96%
                                                      to business

Essentials of Managing Conflict         1LL introduction to conflict management                        100%

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Other Courses and Certifications (without credit recommendation that I am aware of):

Courses approved by The International Critical Incident Stress Foundation:
Group Crisis Intervention
Assisting Individuals in Crisis
Grief Following Trauma
Understanding Suicide

Kansas EMS License that does not already have associated RA credit
EMS Instructor/Coordinator

National Emergency Training Center; Emergency Management Institute courses that (infuriatingly) do not have ACE recommendations:
All-Hazards Task Force Leader
All-Hazards Operations Section Chief
NIMS 300
NIMS 400
National Incident Command System Train the Trainer
Fundamentals Course for Radiological Awareness
Basic Public Information Officer
Joint Information System/Center Planning Course for Tribal, State, and Local Public Information Officers

National Agricultural Biosecurity Center:
Animal Disease Response Training DHS-128-RESP

National Wildfire Coordinating Group 
S-217 Interagency Helicopter Training
S-201 Supervisory Concepts and Techniques
S-230 Crew Boss
S-231 Engine Boss

International Fire Service Accreditation Congress
Fire Inspector 1 
Fire Officer 1
Fire Instructor 1
Hazardous Materials Technician

And many, many others which are probably not worth adding onto this list.

[ashkir]

You look like you're missing a lot of GEC's so you will have a long journey at whatever college you choose. It is really cool you focused a lot into firefighter courses. While others that are more experienced with WGU, TESU, COSC, Excelsior etc respond to this thread I recommend going to UMPI's website, request information for a BLS of your choosing:

https://online.umpi.edu/

With that set up you can get a FREE EVALUATION at no cost for you, and this can give you a general idea of your GECs you're missing and your overall path.

[bjcheung77]

Just curious, besides the 1 course/semester, do you get discounted tuition or tuition assistance/reimbursement?  What do you have for a budget/funding for this educational journey of yours?  You are missing a bit of general education electives, so I think WGU would be out, you're not interested in their degrees offerings as they only deal with Business, Education, IT, Nursing.

Your best options to get the most credits transferable are the Big 3 and other CBE options such as Purdue/Walden/UMPI.  Even then, the closest degree that will remotely use most of your credits would be a General or Liberal Studies degree.  I would pretty much get you to "stop" and decide on a degree and school.  If TESU is your first choice, maybe just stick with it...

My recommendations are the following, it really depends on your scenario/situation: 1) If you decide on COSC, you just need 2 courses from them, the cornerstone and capstone, then finish off the degree by transferring some lower level with Sophia.org and upper level requirements with Study.com, including the required science course with lab.  

2) If you're going with UMPI, you need to take at minimum 30 credits through them (and complete a few required general education courses through Sophia.org & Study.com - UMPI requires a language and science lab).  I suggest doing their AALS and the BAS with concentration as you have two applied science associates already, having a Bachelors in Applied Science would take the bulk of your credits, vs a BLS or BA/BABA.

3) If you decide to go with Excelsior, I suggest taking 13 credits with them instead of the required 7 credits - Info Lit, Cornerstone and Capstone.  This is because for about $500, you get 6 credits, and these can be upper level courses that interest you or a capstone for another Bachelors, for example a BSLA and a BS Homeland Security.

4) If you decide on TESU, I suggest taking 16-18 credits from them, you can use the credits towards the required Cornerstone, Capstone for your BALS with Social Science concentration, if you want, you can complete another Bachelors in Homeland Security from them, by taking another Capstone.  By taking the 16-18 credits, this will remove the residency waiver fee requirement.

[rachel83az]

It looks like you already have two Associate degrees. TESU only allows a student to have 2 Associate's degrees and 2 Bachelor's degrees in total. It doesn't matter where they come from. If you were to get a Business degree at UMPI, for instance, you would only be allowed to get 1 Bachelor's degree at TESU. If you got a Business degree from UMPI and a different Bachelor's degree from Purdue Global, TESU wouldn't allow you to get a third degree from them. I'm not sure about the multiple-degree policy at other schools. Since you list AAS in Paramedicine and Fire Science, you wouldn't be able to get an ASNSM in Biology.

You say that you just need "any" degree but you definitely have to pick one that is the most favorable to you. A BALS isn't useful to everyone, a Business degree may be boring to some, and something like a degree in English might be viewed as having too many papers. But there are people who could leverage a BALS to get an awesome career, would find a Business degree to be fascinating, or who love writing English papers.

If you still need time to think, I would head over to Sophia and start taking gen ed courses now. Things like Public Speaking and Ethics are solid gen ed choices. Don't take English Comp at Sophia, though. Too much work and you can get those credits filled more easily elsewhere.

[allvia]

I don't see the attachment(s) showing the credits from Allen Community College; Total Credits: 94ish or Hutchinson Community College; Total Credits: 100 - which may be why some have assumed you need a bunch of general education credits. I also don't see credits for Cowley County Community College

It is correct the additional associates won't be an option from TESU, they only allow two (total, any school)

With the UL credits you have you I would suggest you apply to TESU for their Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies (https://www.tesu.edu/business/bsps/index), they should fit there very nicely - and I suspect that once your Allen CC, Hutchinson CC and Cowley County CC credits are known you're very close to done.

To the moderators on this board - can you fix the huge space gap in the original OP post

[dfrecore]

You need to edit your post if you can, it is incredibly long with nothing in it (at least, it's what I see). And then you can post your credits from each school. Post it like this:

School (semester or quarter)
course #, course name, number of credits, grade if less than a C

repeat until your CC credits are all listed.

[a_dblu]

Just curious, besides the 1 course/semester, do you get discounted tuition or tuition assistance/reimbursement?  
No. Tuition is free, fees and associated BS still has to be paid.

What do you have for a budget/funding for this educational journey of yours?  
It looks like I'm elligible for about 2500$ in Pell Grants. Beyond that I'm scrapping together whatever I can.

You are missing a bit of general education electives,
Yep. The thing that no-one at any community college ever explained is that an "applied" degree is considered a terminal degree and it is lacking many of the GECs that a liberal arts education requires.

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You need to edit your post if you can, it is incredibly long with nothing in it (at least, it's what I see).  And then you can post your credits from each school.  Post it like this:

School (semester or quarter)
course #, course name, number of credits, grade if less than a C

repeat until your CC credits are all listed.

I'm not sure what you are looking at, I posted transcripts from every college I've attended, as well as my ACE credits. I also listed the ACE credits separately and included the specific recommendations for each.

Thanks.

[rachel83az]

The images that you posted are not visible to us. I think you put them on a private drive or something? Can you attach them directly or use a service like Dropbox or Imgur?

[dfrecore]

With the UL credits you have you I would suggest you apply to TESU for their Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies (https://www.tesu.edu/business/bsps/index), they should fit there very nicely - and I suspect that once your Allen CC, Hutchinson CC and Cowley County CC credits are known you're very close to done.

I'm not understanding the BSPS recommendation.  There are 20 courses to choose from, and you need to choose 10 of those.  There is nothing that says you can bring in other courses.  Have you heard that they'll bring in other courses and that it's flexible?  I haven't so I'm curious.

[a_dblu]

The images that you posted are not visible to us. I think you put them on a private drive or something? Can you attach them directly or use a service like Dropbox or Imgur?

Ah. Thank you for the explanation.

Here is a link:

Transcripts