U of Florida Bachelors in Fire and Emerg. Services

[GFPD2005]

Does anyone have any experience with this distance learning degree? I already have a B.A. and from their eval of my transcript they said I can start with a junior standing and complete the Fire and ES courses and get a Bachelors from them.

Any good or bad, experiences in general for the program? Its a deal for me because Illinois (my state) and Florida have made some agreement and I get Florida in-state tuition. Id like to start my first course in Jan 08.

[bobbymurphy]

GFPD,

Don't know anything about Florida's program, just wanted to make sure you aren't getting any bad info on the in-state tuition. To give you a little background, I am from Illinois and went to school in Kentucky. Kentucky is a member of the academic common market as is Florida. The common market allows students to attend other universities in members state at in-state rates provided their home state does not offer such a program. I was not eligible for Academic common market while attending school in Kentucky because Illinois is not a member state.

Since I don't know your situation I just wanted to give you a heads up to look into and make sure they were not telling you that you could pay in-state rates due to the common market. If so you might want to make some calls, I know I was under the impression when I went to Kentucky that I would get to pay in-state rates due to the common market. However due to Illinois not being a member I had to pay out of state.

Here are a couple Academic Common Market links

http://asa.regents.state.la.us/ACM

http://www.cep.unt.edu/ACM.html

Hope this info helps,

Bobby

p.s. Eastern Kentucky has recently launched an online program as well http://www.fireandsafety.eku.edu/online.asp

[GFPD2005]

Thanks for the heads up. I know about the academic common market and fortunately this is not under that because as you said Illinois doesnt play well with others! I was going to apply for Ok State's Master in Fire and Emergency Management ($500 per credit hr out of state), but Illinois is not in the ACM.

This arrangement is between University of Illinois Fire Service Institute and U of Florida. Its basically $175 per credit hr.

Thanks for your reply!

[hydrant328]

I looked into the UF program since I live in Fla. Decided against it because of the course calendar. You have to take classes in accordance with the school semesters. I found the program at Columbia Southern University to be more user friendly. You take classes(online) at your pace in 10 week blocks....but you can finish as soon as 3 weeks. They allow for up to 9 credits at a time, 3 courses. The cost is 185 per credit. Been doing it for about a year and very happy.
good luck

[FireInspectorPA]

What made you choose CSU other than the user friendly program? I really am looking for a degree that will not just look like it came from some fake online school. I have really been searching and I cannot seem to find a whole lot out there about 4 year online degrees.

[sgallagher]

FireInspectorPA,

Other than CSU, I only know of one other school with a Bachelor program and that is Eastern Kentucky University. However, I chose CSU because they are accredited for distance learning, they accepted transfer credit from my military experience, they accepted transfer credits from Keiser University were I recieved my Associates, they have partnerships, and my VA benefits are accepted there. I start courses next week.