Georgia holds one of the deepest job markets in the country for this work and charges for the
degree across a range that is hard to justify. BLS counts 430 emergency management
directors in the state, 3.2% of the national total and the 9th largest market
of the 46 it publishes. It pays them $83,200, which is
$10,130 under the national median and 29th of 47 on pay.
Against that, the four programs run from $4,176 to $31,265 a year. The dearest costs
about 7.5 times the cheapest, and the usual explanation does not apply here,
because the cheapest option is the on-campus one and the expensive ones are online. Four years
at the top of that range costs $125,060, which is more than
1.5 times what the job pays in a year in this
state.
All 4 Bachelor's In Emergency Management Programs In Georgia, Ranked
Scored on graduation rate, cost, delivery, selectivity and how directly the degree targets
emergency management. Full weighting on the methodology page.
Emergency management programs in Georgia ranked by score
#
School
City
In-state tuition
Graduation rate
Online
Score
1
Georgia Military College
Milledgeville
$7,605
38%
Yes
66.7
2
Thomas University
Thomasville
$11,400
28%
Yes
60.4
3
Mercer University
Macon
$31,265
70%
Yes
59.6
4
Savannah State University
Savannah
$4,176
28%
No
59.5
1
Bachelor's in Homeland Security & Emergency Management
Georgia Military College
Milledgeville, Georgia
Online
Georgia Military College runs this degree only through its online arm, never at the military junior college the school is named for, and pitches it at people already working in fire, EMS and homeland security.
The Bachelor of Applied Science in Emergency Management and Homeland Security is delivered entirely through GMC Online. The school is explicit that the degree is not taught at its Military Junior College, which is worth knowing given what the institution's name suggests. Intakes are quarterly, in October, January and March, and the program describes its audience as professionals in industries such as fire science, homeland security and EMT administration looking to add a credential to work they already do.
The course list is the widest of the four Georgia programs and splits cleanly in two. The emergency management half runs through Emergency Management Response, Basic Incident Command Systems, Emergency Operations, Disaster and Response Recovery, Developing and Managing Volunteer Resources, and Terrorism and Emergency Response. The homeland security half covers Ethics in Homeland Security, Technology and Cybersecurity, Legal Issues in Homeland Security, Cyber Crime Investigation, Biodefense, Intelligence and Analysis, Radicalization, and a politics sequence on Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Biodefense and radicalization as named undergraduate courses are unusual; most programs fold both into a single terrorism survey. The program frames itself as entry-level exposure rather than specialist training.
Online only, not taught at the junior college campus
Quarterly intakes in October, January and March
Named courses in biodefense, radicalization and cyber crime
Aimed at working fire, EMS and homeland security staff
Thomas University is a recognized participant in the Naval Postgraduate School's University and Agency Partnership Program, which gives it the curriculum and digital library of the federal center that trains homeland security leaders.
The degree is 120 credits split three ways: 30 credits of general education, 60 in the major and 30 of minor or elective work. The major itself is unusually technical for this field. Alongside the expected Introduction to Homeland Security, Emergency Preparedness, Infrastructure Protection and Intelligence for Homeland Security sit Computer Forensics, Geographic Information Systems Applications, Homeland Security Technology and Homeland Security Risk Management. Disaster Resilience, Unconventional Threats and Responses, Constitutional Law, Management in Law Enforcement, Terrorism, Leadership and Research Methods complete it.
The partnership is the reason to look closely. Thomas states it is a recognized participant in the University and Agency Partnership Program, which carries access to the curriculum, digital library and other resources of the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security. CHDS is the federal institution that educates senior homeland security officials, and its material is not otherwise available to an undergraduate. Whether that access reaches a given course is a question worth asking admissions directly, but no other Georgia program on this page has anything comparable behind it.
Naval Postgraduate School CHDS curriculum and digital library access
120 credits, 60 of them in the major
GIS applications and computer forensics required
Constitutional law taught alongside the security content
Bachelor's In Homeland Security & Emergency Management
Mercer University
Macon, Georgia
Online
Mercer teaches this degree out of a department of leadership studies rather than a criminal justice or public administration school, and the curriculum follows that placement.
The BS in Homeland Security and Emergency Management runs through Mercer's College of Professional Advancement, inside the Department of Leadership Studies. The degree is completely online in eight-week sessions with five start terms a year, in January, March, May, August and October, which is a schedule built around people already in work rather than around a semester calendar.
The departmental placement is the thing to weigh. Mercer describes the curriculum as examining global threats to public safety and preparing students for the management aspect of the field, with emphasis on leadership development, crisis communication and critical thinking. Students have the opportunity for service-based learning to develop core competencies. Read against the other Georgia options that is a real difference in kind: Thomas teaches GIS and forensics, Georgia Military College teaches incident command and biodefense, and Mercer teaches you to run the people who do those things. At the price it is the most expensive route in the state by a wide margin, so the question is whether the leadership framing is what you actually need.
Bachelor's In Homeland Security & Emergency Management
Savannah State University
Savannah, Georgia
On campus
Savannah State says this was the first homeland security and emergency management bachelor's at a historically Black college or university anywhere in the country, and the first such degree of any kind in Georgia.
The BA sits in the College of Sciences and Humanities and is available as a major or a minor. Savannah State describes the curriculum as built on the existing body of knowledge in homeland security and emergency management together with current and developing research, with an emphasis on improving the resilience of communities and the infrastructure they depend on. The university lists the FBI, FEMA, the U.S. Coast Guard and Gulfstream Aerospace among the places its graduates have gone, which is a destination list rather than a placement figure and is worth reading as one.
Two practical things make it distinct on this page regardless of the history. It is the only one of the four Georgia programs taught on campus rather than online, in a state where the other three are all distance degrees, so it is the option for a school leaver going to university properly. And at the tuition below it is by a wide margin the cheapest emergency management degree in Georgia, which given that this is a field whose median pay trails the national figure is not a small consideration.
First such degree at an HBCU, and first in Georgia
The only on-campus option of the four
Available as a major or a minor
Emphasis on community and infrastructure resilience
The Price Question Georgia Emergency Management Programs Force
In most states the expensive programs buy something visible: a campus, a laboratory, a
required internship, a cohort. Georgia's expensive programs are online, and its cheapest one
is the one you attend in person. That inverts the usual trade and makes the extra
$108,356 harder to account for.
It is not nothing, and the profiles above say what it buys. Mercer teaches the subject as
leadership studies and runs five intakes a year around a working schedule. Thomas holds a
partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security
that no other program in the state has. Both are real. The question is whether either is worth
several years of the difference in a state whose median for emergency management directors is
$83,200, and that is a judgment about your finances rather than about the
schools, which is why both numbers sit in the table rather than being collapsed into a verdict.
What An Emergency Management Director Earns In Georgia
Emergency management is the field and the degree, not a job title. The occupation the federal
government tracks against it is
emergency management director,
SOC 11-9161, and that is the code behind every wage figure in this section.
The median is $83,200. The bottom 10% earn $50,110 and the top 10% reach
$152,120, with the middle half between $63,840 and $110,190.
Georgia's ceiling is the part that holds up best: at $152,120 the top decile is within
reach of the national $166,430, while the median trails by $10,130. So the
senior federal and metropolitan Atlanta roles pay competitively and the rest of the
distribution does not.
Compare every state.
Accreditation For Emergency Management Degrees In Georgia
CAEMHSE accredits degrees in this field, but it is thinly held and not CHEA-recognized, so it will not narrow this list. All four Georgia schools hold institutional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. None of the four holds a programmatic accreditation in this subject, because none exists to hold. What applies instead.
Common Questions About Emergency Management Programs In Georgia
How many emergency management programs are there in Georgia?
Four ranked bachelor's programs at 4 institutions: Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Thomas University in Thomasville, Mercer in Macon and Savannah State in Savannah. 3 of the four are online and one, Savannah State, is taught on campus.
What is the cheapest emergency management degree in Georgia?
Savannah State University at $4,176 a year, which is roughly a 7.5th of the $31,265 charged by Mercer University. Across four years that is $16,704 against $125,060, a difference of $108,356 for a degree pointing at the same occupation.
Do emergency management directors earn well in Georgia?
Below the national figure, though the state has plenty of the jobs. The Georgia median is $83,200 against $93,330 nationally, $10,130 below, placing the state 29th of the 47 BLS publishes. The bottom 10% earn $50,110 and the top 10% reach $152,120.
Are there emergency management jobs in Georgia?
Yes, and more than most states. BLS counts 430 emergency management directors in Georgia, 3.2% of the national total, which makes it the 9th largest state market of the 46 with a published count. That combination of a deep job market and below-average pay is the thing to weigh when deciding how much to spend on the degree.
Is there an on-campus emergency management degree in Georgia?
One. Savannah State teaches its Homeland Security and Emergency Management BA on campus, and the other three Georgia programs are online. Savannah State also says the degree was the first of its kind at a historically Black college or university anywhere in the country and the first in Georgia.
Which Georgia program is best for someone already working in public safety?
Georgia Military College, which states plainly that its audience is professionals in fire science, homeland security and EMT administration. It is online only, delivered through GMC Online rather than at the school's military junior college, and takes intakes quarterly. Thomas University is the alternative if you want the more technical curriculum, since it requires GIS applications and computer forensics.
Emergency Management Programs In Other States
62 of the 91 programs we hold are online, so for most of this
list the state you study in and the state you work in need not match. These are the other
states we rank, with what each one holds.
