FASNY seeks firefighters with college money offer

COLUMBIA/GREENE COUNTIES — There remains yet a very narrow window, but a window nonetheless, for volunteer firefighters in the area to attend community college — well, for free, if you become a volunteer firefighter.

The Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) last summer created a college tuition reimbursement fund for any eligible firefighter who wants to attend a community college — and the reimbursement filing deadline for the Spring 2012 semester is Wednesday.

The original closing date had been Feb. 1, but FASNY extended it to Feb. 15 “due to significant interest in the program.”

After the close of applications on Wednesday, the next opportunity to apply is anticipated to be for an early October deadline, for the fall 2012 semester.

Under the program, which FASNY calls the Higher Education Learning Plan (HELP), volunteer firefighters who apply as students are eligible to have between 75 to 100 percent of their tuition reimbursed, depending on their grades.

In return, they are required to pass, and also “maintain acceptable volunteer activity and training levels during, and for a period after, their entire course of study.”

That service period is from one to four years, depending on the number of course credits achieved through HELP.

The assistance is only open to student-volunteer firefighters who have not yet achieved an associates degree, or higher, and is for community colleges only.

Additionally, the community college must be the closest one to their residence, or be within 50 miles of it.

There is no restriction on what the student chooses to study or the courses involved, with a maximum of up to 80 credit hours available for reimbursement.

Funds from the program come from a $4,270,570 U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant, under its Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program.

The HELP program has been implemented as an incentive to draw new volunteers into the firefighting community, as FASNY notes there is a statewide need to recruit and retain more members.

“Now, more than ever,” said FASNY Recruitment and Retention Committee Chairman George Davenport, “we need volunteers serving our communities, so that the same optimal level of fire and emergency protection can be sustained for the safety of the citizens of this state.”

FASNY would like to bring in more than 15,000 new firefighters over the next four years, and the HELP program is an early part of that initiative.

For more information on the program, visit FASNY’s website, at www.fasny.com, or call FASNY Deputy Volunteer Programs Coordinator John D’Alessandro toll-free at (855) 694-3137.

In an unrelated, but similar firematic educational initiative, local firefighters annually support two scholarships at Columbia-Greene Community College.

Columbia-Greene Community Foundation Executive Director Joan Koweek said Monday that both the Columbia County Fire Chiefs Association and the Greene County Firemen’s Association and Ladies Auxiliary each contribute funding towards a $500 scholarship for a student of their respective counties.

Koweek said half of each scholarship is contributed by an anonymous donor, with the other half provided by the two organizations.

Koweek said there has been special interest in the scholarships this year, with more than the average number of applicants seeking the two awards — which mirrors the strong interest level shown for FASNY’s separate HELP program.