Federal Emergency Management Agency Independent Study Program

Overview
The Federal Emergency Management Agency operates an online Independent Study program offering approximately 120 courses online for free. These are typically downloadable PDFs or Word documents, with a knowledge test at the end. Tests are unproctored, untimed, and open book. Completing seven specific FEMA will result in the award of the FEMA Professional Development certificate via US mail:


 * The Professional Development Series includes seven Emergency Management Institute independent study courses that provide a well-rounded set of fundamentals for those in the emergency management profession. Many students build on this foundation to develop their careers.

Of the more than 100 FEMA courses, certain ones are acceptable as transfer credit at Big 3 schools. Each school has unique rules regarding FEMA courses, but in a nutshell you can get anywhere from 0 to 32 credits from free FEMA courses, depending on your school and degree program. Each accepted course is worth one credit.

Thomas Edison will accept 32 credits directly from FEMA (Source: TESC Handbook). These credits apply towards your free elective slot, unless you are pursuing a degree in emergency management in which case they may apply towards some of your core credits. Charter Oak recently changed to accept FEMA credits for free (Source). Excelsior may require you to first transfer the FEMA courses into Frederick Community College for $79 per credit, and then transfer from Frederick to Excelsior. Always check the school policy before moving forward, and check the DegreeForum.netboards for specific questions.

In addition to the Big 3 and Frederick the following Colleges may be of interest to those pursuing an Emergency Management degree. Red Rocks Community College of Colorado, Clackamas Community College (Located in Oregon), and Guam Community College all have programs utilizing FEMA courses for credit. These specific programs are catered to students from their respective states. Clackamas Community College's offering is also availaible to Emergency Managers in five other states and they have articulation agreements with several 4 year colleges for Bachelors level studies.

Resources

 * FEMA Independent Study website
 * FEMA Professional Development Series
 * Unofficial master list of TESC equivalencies, including all accepted FEMAs, from the DegreeForum.net users
 * Site for paying to transfer FEMA credits to Frederick Community College
 * Student Transcripts and Official Transcripts instructions page; includes link to download transcript request form.
 * Red Rocks CC Emergency Management http://www.emergencymgmt.com/degrees/emergency-management/Red-Rocks-Community-College.html
 * Clackamus CC Emergency Management http://depts.clackamas.edu/crimjust/em.aspx