The majority of the distance learning students come from public safety fields. The majority of on-campus students are employed as teachers, aides, or trainers in public and private educational programs. Most students are mid-career (30-45 years of age) employed as teachers or trainers, firefighters, police officers, sheriffs, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, disaster trainers, dispatchers, or related professions.
Yes, in order to participate in the distance learning program, you must be admitted to CSULB.
Students need to have a minimum of 5 years of work experience in their profession and an AA or AS degree or 7 years without their degree. They also need to have taught, trained, or instructed others their profession either in a formal classroom setting, in-house, through an academy, or as part of their job description. A minimum of 1,000 hours of teaching/training/instruction are needed prior to submitting the Swan Bill for Board approval.
The degree total is 120 semester units and must consist of the following components:
30 semester units in residency (a minimum of 10 classes at CSULB)
24 upper division units (300 & 400 level) of which...
Completion of the general education (GE) 39 unit transfer package “certified” from the community college or completion of CSULB's 51 unit GE package which includes the 9 units of upper division GE mentioned above. In addition, all students must take and pass the Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE) as soon as they are classified as senior status.
No, but you have to complete the requirements before CSULB will award you the BS degree, and several are required for admission to the university.
One who is admitted to the University and enrolled in courses at the same time.
You may enroll in the courses and the program without being admitted to the University. Enrollment constitutes paying course fees and attending classes either at one of our sites or on-line.
You will need to request official copies of all your college coursework, fill out a university application, and send it with a $55 check processing fee made out to CSULB and mail it to the distance learning office if you are an off-campus student, or complete the application online at CSUMENTOR.EDU if you are an on-campus student.
By calling the automated number at (562) 985-5505.
We offer classes year-round throughout California at different sites and on the Internet. See the Schedule of Classes section to find the nearest location and the next class.
Enrollment for Internet classes is conducted through the UCES website. Download the enrollment form, complete the information including your e-mail address and either e-mail the form with your credit card information, FAX it, or mail it with a check. For Internet classes, the enrollment form must be received at least a week prior to the start date of the course. For on-site “live” classes, the enrollment fees are paid through the site facilitator usually about three weeks prior to the first week of class. Payment can be made by check, VISA, or MasterCard.
Usually anyone in the distance education program can attend any site, however we recommend you check with either the facilitator or the Distance Learning Office to verify start dates, times, and locations, as they often change and to make sure the class is not full. On-campus students may only take courses in on-campus locations or a few off-campus locations. Always check with your advisor before enrolling in off-campus classes.
Books are available for purchase in the distance education program only at the first course in a new cohort (PROF 485 and PROF 502) and for PROF 330. Bring a separate check to class to pay for the books or materials. Book purchase information will be provided for all other live classes. For Internet classes, as soon as your enrollment has been processed, you will receive an e-mailed instruction of how to order and pay for your books.
Admission requirements are no different than for on-campus students: completion of at least 60 transferable units of college courses, including at least the English Composition (Freshman Comp) course with a C grade or better, and have completed a college algebra, statistics, or mathematics for teachers course at the community college.
Any of the community college courses, including general education and technical, that are indicated on your college transcripts as being transferable to the CSU system. In addition, any other courses you previously took at another 4 year institution that are categorized in their catalog as transferable to another institution.
Any pre-requisite general education courses (e.g., English and mathematics developmental classes) and technical classes not listed in the catalog of the transferring institution as being transferable.
The California community college systems has a 39 unit CSU general education transfer package. If the transcript shows that your “39 unit GE Requirement is Certified” then you have completed your lower division GE requirement and CSULB will not require you to take any additional lower division GE. The “certification” is usually indicated directly on the transcript or on a separate page with CSU GE CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS as a heading. Students usually need to request the community college evaluation/transcript office to complete this process when they request a set of transcripts.
Not necessarily. The GE requirements for an AA or AS degree are usually less than for the transfer to either the CSU or UC system in California. Most AA or AS degrees in either Liberal Arts or General Education have the majority of the 39 unit transfer package completed. Most AA or AS degrees in Fire Science/Technology, Administration of Justice/Criminal Justice, or other technical subjects contain about half of the CSU transfer GE.
Call and make an appointment with a counselor in the counseling or admissions office at the community college you received your AA or AS degree or the one you have most recently attended. Bring copies of all transcripts from other institutions where you have completed GE classes. Request that they assess your GE to do a partial or complete “certification” for transfer to the CSU system so you know what deficiencies, if any, you have. If you completed your AA or AS degree prior to 1993, request they do the “certification” according to the catalog year in which you started continuous enrollment in the system. Sometimes this is many years prior to receiving your AA or AS degree. This can be important because the CSU system has added requirements over the years. We will accept a certification from them as long as you completed the transfer GE requirements when you finished your AA or AS degree.
If you took GE classes at other colleges, they can do what is called a “pass through” with that class in order to complete the GE certification.
Depending on when you attended, the 39 units in the CSU transfer patter at community colleges are made up of the following:
You may use them as transfer classes only if they are posted to a college transcript or have been certified by the American Council on Education as college-equivalent, otherwise they become part of your Swan Bill “professional development.”
No, any course work taken prior to receiving your bachelor’s degree cannot be used towards a master’s degree, except: Up to 12 units may be taken in your senior year and “petitioned” to count towards a master’s degree, however, the petition must be approved PRIOR to enrolling in the courses.
We recommend several ways to complete them, depending on how many units you need:
To find out about these programs, visit the following WEB Sites:
Orange Coast: www.occ.cccd.edu
Rio Hondo: www.riohondo.edu
Coastline: http://www.coastline.edu
The California Community College Web Site is: www.cccco.edu
Whenever you take a course either simultaneously while enrolled at CSULB or when you have completed your program at CSULB, you need to request an “official” sealed transcript to be sent to the distance learning office. If you complete your GE, request the community college to complete the “GE certification for transfer to the CSU” and send that as part of or attached to your transcript to the Distance Learning Office.
When you know when you will finish both your CSULB and lower division GE classes, notify your SDS and request “graduation application forms” and completion of your Program Planner. The filing deadline dates and costs are:
October 1st for May or August graduation $37
March 1st for December graduation $37
You can still file, but you must pay a $10 late fee.
The Program Planner is the checklist of your major classes and other degree requirements from which the Evaluation Office in Enrollment Services completes a “graduation check” to make sure you meet all the requirements for the degree. The degree requirements are spelled out in the CSULB Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog. You should have a copy from your 300 class, but if not, it can be found at www.csulb.edu. See forms.
You must file an “Educational Leave” form which can be done for two semesters. This form will keep you “in the system” and allow you to re-enter without providing new sets of transcripts. A University application form may need to be completed before re-entering.
Go to the forms area on this site, download the form, and complete it. Then fax it to the Distance Learning Office. We will make a copy for your file and see that it is walked over to the proper Enrollment Services person.
You need to file a “Concurrent Enrollment” form which can be found in the forms area of this website.
Download the form, complete it, and mail it or FAX it to the Distance Learning Office for processing.
The University only holds one graduation ceremony per year—in May. Each College has its own graduation, but if you cannot attend during our ceremony, you will be allowed to participate in any of the other ceremonies. We will publish the dates on our Web Site as soon as we are notified of the day and time.
You may participate in the previous May or the next May ceremony. However, your diploma will state the actual graduation date. Information is mailed directly from the University to each student who is eligible to graduate. A list of approved graduates is sent to the Department about two months prior to the graduation dates.
