Recommendations for HLSC courses

I want to earn 12 credits in homeland security, so that I have a total of 18.

I was just re-admitted to AMU's Grad. Cert. in Homeland Security. However, the last time I was admitted they didn't give me any transfer credits. I submitted a new request and requested my Liberty Transcript as well. I completed the following at Lamar University:

1. Geographical Terrorism
2. National Security & Intelligence

I believe those count as HLSC. Now, I regret not doing the 9 credit HLSC concentration in my Ph.D.

Anyway... I need the cheapest option. I don't want to do AMU's entire program if I can't get 6 credits transferred in.

 

Would you consider an undergraduate degree in homeland security? You can do excelsior college and transfer credits towards a BS in Homeland Security and Emergency Management as they accept 113 transfer credits.
Thomas Edison State University has a master's of science in Homeland Security and a graduate certificate in Homeland Security.
Also, this may help.. https://www.geteducated.com/online-college-ratings-and-rankings/online-masters-homeland-security/

 

If he wants. To be qualified to teach the discipline, undergrad credits won’t help a bit.

 

APU Graduate certificate in Homeland Security may work at $370 per credit? https://www.apu.apus.edu/academic/schools/security-and-global-studies/certificate-grad/homeland-security.html
I think its the same program as AMU?

 

Yes, it's the same. It's my #1 consideration now but I want to know if anyone is aware of anything cheaper. If it comes down to it and AMU won't allow me to transfer the 2 courses, I might just take 4 of their courses then withdraw.

 

Correct. I want to teach HLSC courses, so I am only interested in grad courses.

 

I know this may not apply to you but found this interesting while just searching, Department of homeland security employees, national guard, and coast guard members can get a free masters in homeland security. Also other military employees and navy/marines can qualify but require department approval for financial funding.
https://www.chds.us/c/academic-programs/masters

 

Certainly doesn't, lol. I just found a possible option. So, I am a PT faculty at Columbia Southern, and according to the handbook, PT faculty gets 50% off the standard tuition. That means I would pay $162.50/credit hour. They accept up to 18 credits for their M.S. in Homeland Security (concentration in Criminal Justice). If I were to get max transfer credits, I'd pay only $2,925 for the entire degree. While CSU is not RA, they seem to be making significant progress towards achieving SACSCOC accreditation. I wonder if anyone would care or even know when I have an RA Ph.D. and M.S. in CJ.

 

This may not work for your purposes, but the Center for Development of Security Excellence is accredited by COE, and they have free virtual courses that are ACE-approved at the graduate level. So, you can either see if national accreditation will be accepted or try to transfer these credits to Excelsior or some other school that will accept ACE credits at the graduate level. While these courses are intended for federal government employees, one can select "academic institution" as your employer during the sign-up process. I just don't know if they mean an academic institution that is run by the federal government. If you manage to sign up, the graduate-level courses are under the Education Division.

https://www.cdse.edu/catalog/vil/index.html

 

Thanks. However, I'd loathe to try to get access since it doesn't seem to apply to me.

"CDSE courses are intended for use by Department of Defense and other U.S. Government personnel and contractors within the National Industrial Security Program."

I think I will go with the CSU option, especially since they are the reason I started thinking about getting these credits. In the last three or so weeks, they've advertised two full-time (internal applicants only) and one part-time position. One of the FT and the PT positions were in HLS. They are strict on the 18 credit requirement in HLS. Currently, I've been approved to teach eight courses at CSU, none of which are HLS courses.

My ultimate goal is to obtain a full-time online position at CSU or another school.

 

Do you plan to give up your tenure-track position to teach full-time at an online school?

 

Yes, tenure-track doesn't mean much to me. I crave the ability to stay in a different city/state every 30 days or so, living in Airbnbs.

 

So, AMU offered 3 transfer credits, leaving me with 15 credits to earn the grad cert. Unfortunately, they haven't received my Liberty transcript yet, so I don't know if anything will change.

CSU didn't offer any transfer credits, and they didn't request my Liberty transcript because they don't consider doctoral credits for master's programs. However, However, I know Walden accepted my Liberty research course credits when I considered the MS Psych.

Anyway, I switched to a non-degree-seeking status at CSU. I will take 12 grad credits in homeland security since I already have 6 from Lamar. However, I will wait until late October when I qualify for the 50% tuition discount. The total tuition cost should be $1,950 ($162.50 x 12). I will do the life pace option where I can complete each course in 4 to 10 weeks. Hopefully, I can knock out those 4 courses by mid-February.

 

What significant progress have they been making? Students and graduates of CSU have spoken of it being about to occur, for as long I’ve heard of the school.

 

https://sacscoc.org/institutions/?institution_name=Columbia+Southern+University&results_per_page=25&curpage=1&institution=0011N00001h9ENGQA2

 

How do academic employers usually treat ACE and NCCRS credits transferred to a university? The CPP certification from ASIS is evaluated at 18 graduate credits.

 

They have a SACS visit this month to determine if they will become a candidate. It is a lot of work just to get the candidacy visit. I believe this is the furthest they have ever gone and definitely indicates an intent to gain SACS accreditation.

 

Who evaluated it for 18 graduate credits? Who is accepting it as such? That is a staggering number for an industry credential. Would be really surprised if any major university allowed a credential to transfer in as equivalent to half their Masters program.

 

ACE themselves, it looks like: https://www.asisonline.org/globalassets/certification/documents/ace-faqs---asis-certification.pdf

But whether any school would accept that recommendation is another story. ASIS does not show up on APUS's non-traditional coursework search tool for undergrad or graduate: https://www.amu.apus.edu/transfer-credit/finder.html

 

I can’t see any rationale for how they came to that conclusion. Even the PMP is only worth 3 undergraduate credits. Quick look online and there appears to be 4-6 week study programs for the CPP, with 98% pass rates…. Hell, even the US Navy Nuclear school with a slightly higher failure rate doesn’t transfer over like this does. I know nothing about the field for CPPs but struggle to see how they could argue their subject matter meets that level of graduate equivalency or is more in-depth than nuclear school. Almost wonder if ACE’s revenue stream of encouraging third-party orgs to have their programs evaluated, my be overly incentivized.