undergradly.
Major · Protective Services

An unnamed catchall inside homeland security and law enforcement

Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services, Other (CIP 43.9999) is the residual code for protective-services programs that don’t fit the named CIPs like Criminal Justice, Corrections, or Homeland Security. About 671 degrees are awarded each year across 61 colleges, and specific program content varies considerably by institution.

Schools offering
61
Annual completions
671
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$68k

About this major

Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services, Other carries CIP code 43.9999, defined as "any instructional program in homeland security, law enforcement, firefighting, and related protective services not listed above." That phrasing is the point: this is the residual code used when a program doesn’t fit the named CIPs in the 43-series — Criminal Justice/Safety Studies (43.0104), Corrections (43.0102), Police Science (43.0107), Homeland Security (43.0301), Crisis and Emergency Management (43.0302), Forensic Science (43.0106), Fire Prevention (43.0201), or Fire Services Administration (43.0202). Specific program content varies considerably by institution. At Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the program emphasizes maritime homeland security; at Neumann University in Pennsylvania, it leans toward criminal-justice and intelligence studies; at Florida Atlantic University, it tracks more closely with public-safety administration.

The major typically rewards students who like operational thinking — reading scenarios, weighing risks, and acting under structured rules. Coursework usually blends some mix of criminal procedure, intelligence analysis, emergency management, fire-service operations, and constitutional law, but the proportions shift by school. Comfort with policy writing and report-style documentation matters as much as physical or tactical interest, since most graduates spend more workdays writing incident reports and briefings than chasing suspects. Students already certain they want to be a police officer, a federal agent, or a firefighter are usually better served by a named CIP whose curriculum recruiters and hiring panels already recognize.

On scale and destination, 61 colleges grant degrees under this code, producing 671 completions per year — thin numbers next to the 33,388 in Criminal Justice/Safety Studies or the 20,738 in Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration. Miami Dade College leads with 123 graduates, followed by St Petersburg College (62) and Massachusetts Maritime Academy (61). Five-year median earnings sit at $67,795 across the cohort, with a notable bachelor’s-vs-associate’s split — $69,468 versus $42,692 — that signals the four-year credential is the working version of this major.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

No federal crosswalk data available for this major yet.

Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$68k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$43k

Bachelor's

$69k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you want a protective-services career but the named CIPs don’t map to the specialization you’re after, if a specific school’s 43.9999 program — Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s maritime homeland security track or Neumann University’s intelligence and criminal-justice blend, for example — actually matches what you want to study, if you’re comfortable doing the work to verify the course list before committing rather than trusting the CIP label, if the $69,468 bachelor’s five-year median reads as a credible starting point given your geography and target sector, and if you can articulate the program’s specialization clearly enough that a federal hiring panel or graduate admissions reader will understand it.

Think twice if you already know you want a standard police, sheriff, or federal-agent path — the named Criminal Justice/Safety Studies (33,388 completions) or Police Science (43.0107, 7,520 completions) tracks read cleaner on hiring forms and academy applications than the 43.9999 catchall. Reconsider also if your target school’s curriculum looks indistinguishable from a generic criminal justice degree but uses this CIP for administrative reasons; a named CIP gives you the same coursework with better transcript readability. The geography matters too — more than 40 percent of annual completions come from Florida schools, so an out-of-state employer may be less familiar with how Miami Dade or FAU define this program. And if you’re aiming at the associate’s level only, the $42,692 five-year figure is meaningfully below the $69,468 bachelor’s number, which makes a transfer plan worth thinking through from day one.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services, Other

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Miami Dade College Miami, FL 0 123 123
St Petersburg College St. Petersburg, FL 0 62 62
Massachusetts Maritime Academy Buzzards Bay, MA 0 61 61
Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL 0 50 50
Neumann University Aston, PA 0 42 42
Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA 0 41 41
Florida State College at Jacksonville Jacksonville, FL 0 31 31
Tiffin University Tiffin, OH 0 29 29
Thomas Edison State University Trenton, NJ 0 26 26
State College of Florida-Manatee-Sarasota Bradenton, FL 0 19 19
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Criminal Justice/Safety Studies

33,388 completions/yr

Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration

20,738 completions/yr

Criminal Justice/Police Science

7,520 completions/yr

Criminal Justice and Corrections, General

1,490 completions/yr

Corrections

504 completions/yr

Securities Services Administration/Management

264 completions/yr

Security and Loss Prevention Services

22 completions/yr

Juvenile Corrections

12 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting, Other majors actually study day-to-day?
The CIP definition is a residual: "any instructional program in homeland security, law enforcement, firefighting, and related protective services not listed above." In practice, that means the curriculum varies considerably by institution. Miami Dade College’s 123 annual graduates sit in a different program than Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s 61 emergency-management graduates or Florida Atlantic University’s 50. You should expect a blend of criminal justice, emergency management, intelligence studies, fire administration, or maritime security depending on the school’s focus, rather than one standard core.
How does this compare to Criminal Justice/Safety Studies (CIP 43.0104) and Homeland Security (CIP 43.0301)?
Criminal Justice/Safety Studies is the dominant track at 33,388 annual completions, followed by Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration at 20,738 and Police Science at 7,520 — together roughly 100x the volume of this 671-completion catchall. The named CIPs reflect standardized curricula that recruiters and academy hiring panels recognize on sight; 43.9999 is used when a program is interdisciplinary or specialized (maritime homeland security, intelligence-and-analysis tracks, fire-service administration variants). The practical difference is recognition rather than rigor — a named CIP often reads cleaner on a federal hiring application.
What kinds of jobs do graduates end up in?
The data packet doesn’t list specific career codes for this CIP, which is itself a signal: outcomes vary too widely to map cleanly to one occupation. Realistic destinations span federal law enforcement pipelines (FBI, ATF, DEA, Secret Service, CBP), state and local police and sheriff departments, fire and EMS services, emergency management roles at FEMA or state agencies, intelligence-community entry tracks, and corporate security or DoD-contractor roles requiring a clearance. The bachelor’s-level five-year median sits at $69,468, well above the $42,692 associate’s figure.
Is the bachelor’s a meaningful step up from the associate’s here?
Yes, and the gap is wider than in most fields. Bachelor’s completers report $69,468 median five-year earnings versus $42,692 for associate’s — a roughly $26,800 spread, larger than most majors in the data. The associate’s is typically used as an academy-prep or community-college transfer credential, while federal law enforcement and most management-track positions require a bachelor’s. Notably, all 61 listed institutions show their completions concentrated at the bachelor’s level, meaning if you’re aiming at a four-year version of this CIP, you’re part of a defined cohort rather than an afterthought.
Where do most students earn this degree?
Completions concentrate at a handful of Florida and East Coast schools. Miami Dade College leads at 123 bachelor’s graduates per year, followed by St Petersburg College (62), Massachusetts Maritime Academy (61), Florida Atlantic University (50), and Neumann University (42). The Florida cluster — Miami Dade, St Petersburg, FAU, Florida State College at Jacksonville, State College of Florida — alone accounts for more than 40 percent of annual completions. This geographic concentration matters: the program reads differently to local employers than to federal recruiters across the country.
Should I pick this CIP or a named alternative?
Look at the actual course list, not the CIP code. If a target school’s 43.9999 program teaches a specialization you want — maritime security at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, an intelligence track at Neumann, or a fire-administration concentration elsewhere — the unnamed CIP can be the right call. If the curriculum looks indistinguishable from a generic criminal justice degree, switch to the named Criminal Justice/Safety Studies (43.0104, 33,388 completions) or Police Science (43.0107, 7,520) for cleaner transcript readability. Federal hiring panels and graduate admissions committees parse the named codes faster.