Columbia College Offers Professional Certificate in Umpiring

Columbia College has a growing reputation as a progressive college. It is very active with military members, and in offering internet based college degrees. Now Columbia College has partnered with Major League Baseball to offer a professional certificate in umpiring, available to students on-line.

The certificate is offered through the Columbia College Education Department, and requires completion of 18 hours of college coursework including: COMM 203, Understanding Human Communication; PSYC 260, Introduction to Applied Psychology; SOCI 430, The Sociology of Sport; MTKG 480, Sports and Events Marketing; and SOCI 270, Minority Cultures and Relations. The final course is a three hour physical education class (PHED 499) at the MLB Umpire Camp (MLBUC) held each November in Compton, California.

Columbia College reports that the cost of the certificate is $4,500, which includes all coursework and MLBUC fees. Currently MLBUC tuition is $1,299 which includes a double-occupancy room at the Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport, manuals, breakfast, lunch, cap, T-shirt and transportation between the Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport and the MLBUC training facility. That would make the remaining 15 hours of classes around $213 per credit hour (which is actually cheaper than the published undergraduate tuition rate at Columbia College of $220 per credit hour).

For more information, visit the Columbia College website.

***UPDATE***

As of 4FEB10 the Columbia College website notes:

**At this time the certificate is available only to U.S. Marines stationed in Southern California.**