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CFS Specilaization
The Center for Field Sciences specializes in archaeology. We train students to become academic archaeologists or work in the government/private sector (aka Cultural Resource Management). And, we do so through intensive field programs, called ‘Field Schools’.
Archaeology field schools have been around for over a century. What CFS does is add three elements to bring field schools to the 21st century.
First, we use economies of scale to reduce cost, opening our programs to the wider range of students possible. Second, our Board of Directors peer-review each of our field schools annually, ensuring top academic & pedagogic quality for each program. Third, we provide students with 8 semester credit units (equivalent to 12 academic quarter units) to help students transfer the experience to their home school record.
School of Record
Our School of Record is Culver Stockton College. Established in 1853, C-SC is a small, Liberal Arts school in Missouri, the Midwest’s premier experimental college. All Center for Field Sciences students earn a letter grade and transcripts at the end of their field school participation from C-SC. Center for Field Sciences programs are reviewed and approved by C-SC Academic Senate. Center for Field Sciences students earn 8 semester credit units as HIS 489 class (Selected Topics in History) – an Upper Division class as posted on the C-SC Academic Catalog. Each field school consists of a minimum of 160 instructional hours.
Notwithstanding the above, C-SC does not engage directly with Center for Field Sciences students, nor does it offer financial aid to participants in our programs. All materials must be sent directly to CFS.
Transfer of Credit units
Students can access their transcript through our School of Record – Culver-Stockton College. C-SC has authorized the National Student Clearinghouse to provide enrollment and degree verification. Upon completion of a program, students will get an email from C-SC with a student ID that may be used to retrieve transcripts. The first set of transcripts will be provided at no cost, additional transcripts may require payment.
If you or your students have questions about ordering a transcript, contact the C-SC office of the registrar at registrar@culver.edu.
student saftey & health insurance
Our primary concern is with education. Traveling and conducting field work involves risk. Students interested in participating in our programs must weigh whether the potential risk is worth the value of education provided. While risk is inherent in everything we do, we do not take risk lightly. We engage in intensive review of each field school location prior to approval. Once a program is accepted, we review and monitor each program annually to make sure it complies with all our standards and policies, including health & safety.
All international programs provide a comprehensive, no-deductible GeoBlue health insurance for all students. In addition, we purchase Medical, Natural & Political Disaster Evacuation Insurance Policy that covers many potential challenges, including COVID (or new pandemics). The cost of this insurance is part of tuition and students are automatically covered.
For domestic programs, we verify that students have health insurance.
Minimum requirments
Our goal is to train the wider range possible of the student population. We have very few restrictions.
- Students must 18 or older by the day a field school begins. We are unable to train legal minors in any of our programs.
- A special waiver must be made for any student who is 74 or older at the day the program begins. Our enrollment system will automatically flag such students and CFS administrator will contact the student to arrange for the insurance company review process.
- Archaeology is usually done in remote areas and involves physical labor. We are limited in our capacity to accommodate students with disabilities. That said, we will examine each case and try to find reasonable accommodation to all applicants.
Financial aid
CFS offers a number of scholarships for students. Through a partnership with PayPal, we also offer students with an interest free loan to help fund the cost of tuition. CFS, however, is not directly accredited by the federal government and we are unable to directly accept funds from federal sources (GI Bill, Stafford Loans, Gilman Scholarships, etc). We urge advisors to accept such financial support at the student home institution and make the funds available to the student directly. S/he can then use the funds to pay directly to CFS or purchase airline ticket to get to the field school site.
LGBTQ students
Everyone is welcomed to our programs, and that means everyone above the age of 18 (see above eligibility requirements). Note, however, that we work in remote areas and live in very basic field stations where dormitories, showers and bathrooms may be shared. Privacy may be impossible to have.
We travel as anthropologists, not trying to change the cultures we visit but understand them. Some communities may not embrace our ideas about equality and may be less than welcoming for the LGBTQ community. Checks this Travel Guard page for LGBTQ Travel Safety. Links at the bottom allow for country-by-country analysis of travel safety.
Consortium Agreements
CFS is happy to sign Consortium Agreements with home universities. Such an agreement must originate from the university where the student is matriculating. The student must complete her/his/their part of the agreement before sending the form to CFS as the form frequently asks for privileged information (student ID, major, etc.).
A consortium Agreement sent to CFS should be signed by the student, then sent as a PDF document attachment to admissions@fieldsciences.org. We will process and return the signed form within three business days to the email from which the form request originated.
If the university requires a hard copy of the Consortium Agreement, please make sure to instruct us to do so. Provide the exact name and full address where the document should be sent.