rlee7575 Wrote:Hi,
I previously completed a few FEMA credits, but haven't done anything with them as of yet. I can comment on CSU though. I'm submitting my Petition to Graduate for my B.S. Health Care Admin this weekend after I finish my last two classes. I also have their AAS Business degree. In the beginning, I did not know about the whole NA/RA accreditation issue so I went with them because they gave me an immense amount of credits from my Army transcript. After I discovered more information on accreditation, I was already less than 30 credits away from graduation, so I just completed the remaining credits via CLEP/DSST, Straighterline courses, and their sister college called Waldorf College. Waldorf College is regionally accredited, but they only operate on a term schedule, and not per-course. If you like more of a structured schedule, Waldorf College is great since they will accept all of CSU's credits, and they have free books as well at just $25 more per credit hour. The downside is that they only have five degree choices, as well as a 30 credit hour residency.
I need the degree ASAP in order to post it to my record. If there wasn't a time crunch, I would have just stuck it out with Waldorf. I think CSU is a great college, and would recommend them to other military personnel. They have great customer service and academic advisors. CSU was just not a good fit for me, as my plan is to become either a Physician Assistant or Health Care Administrator with the military. The credits are good enough for the Army's PA program, but not for the civilian programs. After finishing this Bachelor's, I pretty much have to start over probably around halfway to three-quarters of the 120 hours needed in order to get an RA bachelor's with Excelsior. And that's only because I had a good amount of credits that should transfer, plus Excelsior accepts up to 30 NA credits. Bottom line, CSU would my top online choice for getting a Master's if they were RA. Just depends on what you want to do with the degree, of course. Good luck.

Lindagerr Wrote:Of course I am partial to TESC but why not look into the BSAST in Environmental Sciences? It is RA they are very liberal with accepting previous credits and they will accept lots of FREE FEMA credits toward this degree in the area of study. If I knew then what I know now (about the difficulties of getting in to teaching) I would have gone for this degree instead of the Natural Science BA.

rlee7575 Wrote:Squeeze,
For my Health Care Admin degree, I was only missing some gen ed courses and attempted a couple of the CLEPs(Micro and US History), missing by only a couple of points each. After that, I went with Straighterline and completed(in order): US History, Western Civ, Macro, Micro, College Algebra, Nutrition... and I am working on Sociology and Intro to Business. The first 4 transferred directly in to the gen ed requirements of the degree, but I kept going with straighterline courses so I can ease the load when I transfer to Excelsior. They should accept all courses with a similar title. I think the only SL course that may be titled differently would be Business Communication... CSU equivalent should be Technical Writing, which I believe is mandatory for your degree plan.

What I would do is contact the academic advising department at CSU, and and ask them how they would look at the FEMA credits. I never did try, since the FEMAs are all lower-level everywhere except for TESC, and I didn't have any room for electives. Worst case scenario, maybe just have to have them transcribed somewhere else. I also see that CSU has the AAS in OSH. As I was completing my B.S., I submitted a form on their portal and ended up receiving the AAS Business, since I had the requirements. Good way to show progression in my opinion.

But yeah, I love the school. In the Army, any NA and RA is "Accredited". Therefore, among my peers, I stand way out in comparison, and I receive a lot of attention because of it. I was really hoping that they ended up receiving RA accreditation, but I guess acquiring Waldorf was the next best thing. I wouldn't call a CSU degree a sham degree at all. YOU WILL WORK!! lol But just an FYI, I did not plan on going higher than Bachelor's either, but I keep wanting more. Plus, there are plenty of schools that will accept a CSU bachelor's in order to apply for Master's. Western Governor's, Trident University Int'l, University of North Alabama just to name a few. Hell, UNA accepts the first two courses of an MBA in transfer from CSU. My situation was just unique since I am in the medical field.

rlee7575 Wrote:Squeeze,

No problem, I wish you luck on your journey. They should take pretty much the entire general education sequence. I did not actually take the Technical Writing class since I didn't need it, but I noticed a lot of similarities in the syllabus for each course. For example, the opening description for CSU EH3341 is:

Study of the process of technical writing and written communication. Students review various formats and writing purposes and produce technical and business-related documents.

And for SL's Business Communication is:

In essence, it provides you with an introduction to the communication skills needed to enter and advance successfully in your business career.

I think it's definitely worth a shot to ask an advisor if this course will transfer in, maybe e-mail them a copy of the syllabus from the SL website. Or sometimes they'll take down the website info and contact you back with their decision. Or there's always the DSST as well. The only problem you may run into is the fact that 36 hours must be at the upper level. When they transfer it in, it should post as lower level, because that's what ACE recommends. So that's one more elective that must be upper level. Happened to me on Principles of Marketing. Upper level class at CSU, but CLEP transferred in as lower level credit.

I wish I knew about FEMA courses when I first started with them, could have saved me some time. Did they say that they will accept them straight, or do they have to be evaluated somewhere else first? Are those OSHA courses online or face-to-face? I thought about getting the CSP credential a while back just to add it to the resume, but didn't have the time. It would be cool to get some good training and upper-level credit at the same time.