Certificate Program Overview:

The Certificate in Funeral Directing is issued to students who complete the college level curriculum of funeral service courses. It is designed to teach students the skills and abilities essential for employment as a funeral director.  This academic program is designed to meet specific state, country or professional needs.

Graduates of this program will be able to prepare for final disposition. They will learn how to conduct funeral service ceremonies of various religious, fraternal, military, traditional, humanistic, and non-traditional customs. Additionally, they will be able to conduct funeral arrangement conferences with families, conduct necessary paperwork in funeral home management, and be aware of proper workplace safety guidelines for funeral service personnel. Graduates of this program may find entry-level employment as an apprentice/intern/provisional licensee with funeral homes, cemeteries, pre-need sales, and affiliated funeral service companies.

To earn the Certificate in Funeral Directing, students must complete 64 quarter credit hours of specialized and related coursework (three, thirteen-week semesters).  The Certificate in Funeral Directing program is ONLY available via online instruction. Courses taken online follow the same academic term and length, rigorous academic coursework, and admission requirements as those on campus. The online course instructional delivery will follow the on-campus classroom instruction so that all students, regardless of modality, are learning the same information at the same time. 

This program is NOT delivered in a self-paced or correspondence method approach.  In general, online course topics/lessons are presented on a weekly basis. All online courses will have at least one weekly assignment to assess the material presented that week. Students may go through material and complete assignments according to their own schedule; provided that weekly deadlines are met. In most instances, it is neither required for students to log in at a specific time nor interact with instructors and/or other students in real-time. However, regular participation and substantive online interaction are strictly required.

ONLINE

All quizzes and exams will be delivered through the school’s Learning Management System (LMS) – Canvas. To ensure exam security and academic honesty, a third-party remote proctoring service is utilized. This involves the use of a webcam, microphone, and high-speed/reliable internet. However, NIFS reserves the right to require that exams be administered in a proctored setting.

Course Offerings:

MORT 101 Communications and Public Speaking

Course Description: 

This course provides composition and public speaking skill-building. Students are required to write and speak on 

topics related to funeral service. The focus is on learning how to write, interpret and analyze literary selections. 

The course will cover verbal and non-verbal skills, listening, and business communications.

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MORT 102 Mathematics

Course Description:

This course provides mathematical skills needed for s life. Students will learn fundamental mathematical operations, solve problems, and estimate the reasonableness of solutions. 

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MORT 103 Science 

Course Description: 

This course is designed for students to explore the basic tenets of scientific thinking, including the scientific method, as well as other quantitative and qualitative approaches to science. It will cover scientific vocabulary, prefixes, and suffixes.

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MORT 104 Introduction to Anatomy I

Course Description: 

This course provides information on subdivisions, topographical anatomy, integumentary, skeletal, digestive, urinary, reproductive, and respiratory systems.

Prerequisite: MORT 103 Science

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MORT 105 Introduction to Embalming I

Course Description: 

This course provides information on regulatory considerations, technical orientation, pre-embalming changes, post-embalming changes, and embalming chemical concepts.

Prerequisite: MORT 103 Science

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering:  Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MLAW 201 Mortuary Law and State Rules 

Course Description: 

This course provides information on law concepts, funeral service law, pre-need law, final 

disposition, probate, and state/federal statutes.

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MBUS 201 Accounting

This course provides basic accounting concepts. It covers business ownership, starting your own business, payroll accounting, taxes and reporting, cash, payables, receivables, and other applicable topics for small business operation.

Prerequisite: MORT 102 Mathematics 

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MBUS 202 Small Bus. Mgmt. and Law

This course provides small business and business law concepts. It covers legal forms, business plans, contracts, and insurance.

Prerequisite: MORT 102 Mathematics and MBUS 201 Accounting

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MBUS 203 Fun. Merch. And Funeral Mgmt.

Course Description: 

This course provides information on caskets, outer burial containers, cremation merchandise, concepts in management, and operational policies.

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MBUS 204 Disposition and FTC

This course provides crematory, cemetery, FTC information and history. It covers crematory/cemetery merchandise, services, and disposition trends. 

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MBUS 205 Funeral Directing

Course Description: 

This course provides information on procedures, transferring of remains, preneed, documents, pre/post funeral directing, aftercare, religion, and funeral organizations.

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MBUS 206 Practical Aspects of Funeral Serv. (Prac.)

Course Description:

This course provides students with the practical knowledge needed to be a funeral director. The student will work with funeral forms, first calls, visit places of worship, cemeteries, and crematories. The out of state students will complete the practical portion during their capstone visit in their final semester. 

Prerequisite: MBUS 203 Funeral Merchandise and Funeral Management

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online and in Local Funeral Homes

Credits: 2

Contact Hours: 2

MPUB 301 Chemistry

Course Description:

This course provides discussion on general chemistry, organic chemistry, and embalming chemistry. The course covers the use of embalming fluid, and chemical safety. 

Prerequisite: MORT 103 Science

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MPUB 302 Microbiology

Course Description: 

This course provides information on bacteria, disease, immunology, viruses, fungi, protozoa, and prions.

Prerequisite: MORT 103 Science

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MPUB 303 Anatomy II

Course Description: 

This course provides information on cardiovascular, endocrine, nervous and muscular systems, and review of Anatomy I concepts.

Prerequisite: MORT 103 Science and Introduction to Anatomy I

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MPUB 304 Pathology

Course Description: 

This course provides information on the etiology, cellular reactions, abnormalities, inflammation, and disease concepts.

Prerequisite: MORT 103 Science

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MPUB 305 Color and Restorative Art

Course Description: 

This course provides information on restoration, bones, tissues, facial markings, sculpting with wax, and cosmetology concepts.

Prerequisite: MORT 103 Science 

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MPUB 306 Embalming II

Course Description: 

This course provides information on preparation of vessels, drainage methods, cavity treatment, and closure methods in embalming concepts.

Prerequisite: MORT 103 Science and MORT 105 Embalming I 

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MPUB 307 Clinical 

Course Description:

This course requires each student actively participate in the embalming of at least 10 human remains under the institute’s supervision. The out of state students will complete 10 embalming’s during their capstone visit in their last semester.

Lab fee will be required.

Prerequisite: MORT 105 Introduction to Embalming I

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online and Local Funeral Homes

Credits: 2

Contact Hours: 2

MSOC 201 Sociology and Ethics                                                                           

Course Description:

This course provides sociology and ethics concepts. The course covers family structures, funeral rites, social factors, generational/ethical values, code of ethics, the funeral service oath, and ethics in the funeral industry. 

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MSOC 202 Death, Dying and History

Course Description:

This course provides information on the history of mortuaries, 19th and 20th century funerals, funeral practices and modern-day funeral concepts.

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

MSOC 203 Psychology

Course Description: 

This course provides information on social behavior, funeral service psychology, theories of grief, counseling, characteristics of a funeral director and interpersonal concepts.

Prerequisite: MSOC 202 Death, Dying and History

Terms Offered: Fall, Spring, and Summer

Offering: Online

Credits: 3

Contact Hours: 3

The Funeral Director Certificate program is designed to meet specific state, country or professional needs. It is not accredited by the American Board of Funeral Service Education. Students graduating from this program are not eligible to take the National Board Examination or any state board examination for which graduation from an ABFSE accredited program is required.

COSTS:

The cost for the 64-credit certificate program is $9600.00 USD per student, split over the first 3 semesters $3,200.00 USD per semester.