The Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science (CCMS) announced a partnership with Terra State Community College of Fremont, Ohio, where the two institutions will work together to make it more convenient for students to eventually earn their bachelor’s degree from CCMS.  The agreement, according to an article in The Freemont News-Messenger, calls for prospective CCMS students to earn an associates degree from Terra State completely on-line.  Completion of the on-line course would give students the prerequisites to enter CCMS.

“There is a need for this type of program to make a degree in mortuary sciences more accessible,” CCMS President Jack Lechner said at a press conference.

Terra State hopes to enroll a group of 25 on-line students in the first class.  Students who complete the on-line course with a 2.5 or higher GPA will have automatic admission to Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science.

Funeral Director Daily take:  Funeral service has proven over the years to be one of the professions where beginning the work of a funeral director as a second career is very practical. Many students, out of high school don’t choose funeral service, but once in another occupation they feel that funeral service might be their calling.  So, I can see where an on-line prerequisite class may prove very beneficial whereby you can continue to work at your day job and get the first two years of prerequisites out of the way on-line.  Convenience and affordability will be big advantages for future students.

Flexibility will also be a watch-word going forward in funeral practitioner education.  As we move forward in our profession it will be interesting to see where the market takes us.  With the advent of more immediate cremations will we move the way of Colorado, which in 1982 abolished licensing for individual funeral directors or with the advent of more grief related problems will we go the way of my home state – Minnesota – and require funeral directors to have a bachelor’s degree and pass a national test.  Those two seem to be the two extremes — will we land somewhere in the middle as a requirement for funeral directors?

This is a discussion our industry needs to have.  I believe our standards must be high — but in the end it will be the consumers that choose our levels of education, and price point will be the deciding factor,  if we cannot convince the consumer of the need for high standards.[wpforms id=”436″ title=”true” description=”true”]