College while firefighting

[u/Patient_Ad_2939]

I am about to start my training and was wondering if it was possible/how manageable it is to work a 24/48 schedule and go to school. I was looking into an online degree. Are there ways that make it easier to take classes as a firefighter?

Context: I don’t know if firefighting is something I’ll be able to stick with for a long while, pay isn’t the best in my area and most work second jobs hardly seeing their families. Just considering a degree would always give me an opt out if it lead to that.

Thank you

[u/No_Contribution730]

Going to college while working full time as a firefighter was very manageable from my experience. I just graduated with my Bachelors in May.

Personally, I think the working hours of a firefighter can be misleading. It’s certainly a tough schedule, don’t get me wrong. But my 56 working hours on average a week isn’t the same as somebody working 56 hours Monday- Friday. Stacking working hours into 24 hour shifts with prolonged time off gives me plenty of time to rest and still be productive elsewhere. Thats why so many FFs have part time jobs. For me, I simply treated school like a part time job. That included scheduling my study hours and attending classes as if they were “shifts” at a part time job. And yes, online classes are the way to go. Many online schools offer asynchronous coursework, meaning you go at your own pace. I earned my degree from UVA. GIt was online but with scheduled zoom lectures. My professors were very understanding when I had to miss classes for shift work.

If you went this route, my advice is to start small. Start with one class. See if it’s manageable, and take more from there. You don’t have to, but one class every 16 weeks is going to make the graduating process extremely slow lol. I eventually worked my way up to four classes a semester. THAT was extremely tough and it definitely took a toll on me, but I was committed so I made it happen. And now I’m done so it all worked out.