Has anyone seen or experienced the USDA graduate school offerings? They appear to offer undergraduate and graduate level courses in a variety of subjects, either via classroom, distance paper based, cd rom, or web based learning. Costs seem reasonable too, per class. Althought they do not offer degrees per se, I believe their courses are accredited and could apply to programs like Regents. Check it out at... http://www.grad.usda.gov/cgi-bin/sb/home.cgi/aip=f64680w3M6Z,00WNrdWFSAYreGU5VWgnAtAa. Mark Holtzclaw B.S. Florida State University M.S.W. Florida State University M.P.A. Florida State University
Follow-up Just a follow-up with more info, "The General Services Administration (GSA) has approved the Graduate School, USDA under Federal Supply Schedule 69, contract number is GS-02F-0107N, read more about GSA Schedule 69. The GSA has also awarded the school approval under Federal Supply Schedule 874, Management, Organization, and Business Improvement Services (MOBIS), contract number GS-010F-0228P, read more about GSA Schedule 874. The Graduate School is also registered with the Department of Defense Centralized Contractor Register, CAGE/FSCM Code 06AP3. Established in 1921 by the secretary of agriculture, the Graduate School’s mission is to improve the performance of government and to provide opportunities for individual lifelong learning through education, training and related services. The Graduate School does not grant degrees and has never sought that authority. We prefer to focus on continuing education and training for working adults. Although associated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Graduate School is self-sustaining and receives no federal funds. Our only source of income is tuition and fees." "Some Graduate School courses have been designated to receive college credit recommended by the ACE College Credit Recommendation Service. ACE College Credit Recommendation Service "evaluates and makes credit recommendations for formal educational programs and courses sponsored by noncollegiate organizations who are nondegree granting and who offer courses to their employees, members or customers. The credit recommendations are intended to guide colleges and universities as they consider awarding credit to persons who have successfully completed noncollegiate-sponsored instruction." Graduate School students interested in receiving academic credit at a college or university for designated Graduate School courses should refer to ACE College Credit Recommendation Service's The National Guide to Educational Credit for Training Programs." ...In other words, they offer courses, but you will need to verify that the course you are interested in will be accepted for credit at the institution granting the degree you are working towards. Mark Holtzclaw B.S. Florida State University M.S.W. Florida State University M.P.A. Florida State University
Re: Follow-up They don't offer degrees, but they do offer completion certificates and transcripts, for most individual courses and for all completed programs Unless something has changed I believe the only entire program that is offered completely by distance (no residency) is the certificate program in Meteorology. Weather, anyone? Kit
Re: Re: Follow-up My $.02: With the exception of some very government-specific courses (i.e. some of their accounting/auditing courses, supervision courses, and the like) most of the content in their correspondence courses can be obtained by correspondence/other DL directly from RA institutions, for the same cost or less. Doing so avoids the issue of whether the credits might be transferrable (via their ACE credit recommendations) down the line. For the subjects which aren't readily available elsewhere, the UDSA-GS might be worth a look. My agency has paid for a few of their DL courses that were referenced in my Individual Development Plan. Had I been footing the bill, I likely would've looked at LSU IS or comparably-priced institutions.
We've just updated our site with a more detailed listing of the courses offered by the Graduate School. You can find that information here: (link removed) .org
Beware the above post. It doesn't not appear to be the real USDA Graduate School. Graduate School is the real link. BTW, it is no longer called the USDA graduate school, just "the graduate school." accidentally Oops, edowave, I acidentally messed up that link on this thread. Would you mind posting it again? Sorry. -SurfDoctor
Wow that's great. We've just updated your membership status to the lofty position of BANNED. That appears to be some sort of advertising portal posing as an official site. I'm inviting this member to take it up with Chip if I am in error.
