Sponsored by:
Senator KRISTIN M. CORRADO
District 40 (Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Greenstein, A.R.Bucco and T.Kean
SYNOPSIS
Requires four-year public institution of higher education to award college credits to firefighters for certain courses completed at county fire academies.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the award of college credit to certain firefighters and supplementing chapter 62 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Any person who successfully completes a course at a county fire academy shall receive college credit for the course at a four-year public institution of higher education that offers a fire science degree program if: the institution determines after a review of the curriculum of the course offered by the county fire academy that the curriculum is similar to the curriculum of a course offered in its fire science program; and upon completion of the course, the person successfully completes an examination approved by the institution. The institution shall waive any credit-by-exam fee that it may charge.
b. The county fire academies shall work jointly with four-year public institutions of higher education that offer a fire science degree program to identify courses at the county fire academies which offer a curriculum similar to that of courses included in the fire science programs of those institutions.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that any person who successfully completes a course at a county fire academy will receive college credit for the course at a four-year public institution of higher education that offers a fire science degree program if: the institution determines after a review of the curriculum of the course offered by the county fire academy that the curriculum is similar to the curriculum of a course offered in its fire science program; and upon completion of the course, the person successfully completes an examination approved by the institution. Under the bill, the institution must waive any credit-by-exam fee that it may charge.
The bill also directs the county fire academies to work jointly with four-year public institutions of higher education that offer a fire science degree program to identify courses at the county fire academies which offer a curriculum similar to that of courses included in the fire science programs of those institutions.
A similar tuition benefit is currently available under section 2 of P.L.2005, c.217 (C.18A:64A-80) to students enrolled in county colleges who successfully complete a course at a county fire academy.
Through programs and courses, county fire academies work to enhance the ability of firefighters to deal more effectively with fire and related emergencies, and offer firefighters the opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills to provide a safe and effective response to their communities. Certain courses offered by county fire academies are equal in difficulty to those at the college level.