College Diver Girl

Courtesy of Kastalia Medrano

This week: Learning to dive on a budget, plus earning college credits while diving.

As an undergrad, you know there are certain clichés that accompany the college lifestyle, as inevitable as midterms and messy roommates. You’re busier, and probably strapped for cash. Chances are you don’t have a car. And while you’re no doubt trying new things in the form of 7 a.m. tailgates and Lebanese food, you’re also likely more distant from things you used to love in high school. For divers, college often means an extended scuba hiatus as you move to a Midwest campus or discover your budget no longer covers rental equipment.

It doesn’t have to be so. There is, in fact, still room for your wetsuit in your dorm room closet, you just need to be more knowledgeable and selective about what you bring it out for. If you plan right, you can tailor your dives in such a manner that they can be exchanged for college credit: If you can’t balance a full course load with long trips to the coast, a combination of new scuba-inclusive classes and certification courses that count toward your degree can help. If finances are your worry, there are scholarships, fellowships and grants to keep both BCD and bank account solvent.

Let’s start with those seeking scuba certifications, whether for advanced courses in rescue diving or basic open water training. In many cases, PADI certification courses approved by the American Council of Education can be applied to your transcript in much the same way transfer credits are, taking the place of physical education electives, certain prerequisites or even units within your degree, depending on what you’re majoring in. Specialty courses ranging from Search and Recovery to Wreck Diver could get you out of that 2-unit cross-training class you reluctantly signed up for. And a number of colleges, such as the University of Iowa, have formed scuba clubs to help bring interested students together and promote opportunities to receive credit for certification classes. Some universities have even integrated dive-based courses into their curricula — Paradise Valley Community College, for instance, offers a Fish Identification and Research course in addition to open water diving. Florida International University provides 1-, 2- and 3-credit courses ranging from basic training to night diving and CPR. Santa Barbara City College is home to an extensive Marine Diving Technologies Program, through which students can pursue a scuba-centric Associate in Science degree if they choose. At the University of Southern California, field courses in Environmental Studies have taken students as far as Palau and Guam.

Already earned all the certifications you’re after for now? There’s still a place for you in the happy world of diving for college credit. If it’s internships you’re searching for, Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society is the best place to start. Hosting six programs in North America and one in Europe, the Rolex-sponsored society points student-divers toward not just the best internships in the biz, but grants and scholarships to help fund them. Check out the Society’s internship page online to see which suits you best—programs range from concentrations in photography to national park research to magazine writing. If underwater photography is your drink of choice, Hawaii-based organizations Dolphin Dreams Images and Mantarays Hawaii both offer internships for credit — as with any other program, just make sure to clear them with your university first. Looking for something on the west coast? If you’re of the athletic persuasion and have logged at least 50 cold-water dives, Channel Islands National Park is currently looking for two students to serve as interns in the Kelp Forest Monitoring Program. For those students looking for diving-related internships that don’t actually involve diving, there’s PADI’s Scuba Diving Marketing Internship in South Carolina, where undergraduates can hone their marketing and PR skills.

Kastalia Medrano is currently a junior at the University of Southern California majoring in print and digital journalism, and has been diving since she was 12.