Frequently Asked Questions

Chazak is an international rescue and relief organization.

Chazak training follows the school year. Training will start in late August or early September of each year. The first training began in September 2021.

The application cut-off date is March 1, 11:59 PM of the year you are applying for.

You can apply for any year in the future. You'll simply specify which year you are applying for during your application process.

Chazak Rescue is open to Christian men and women, single or married, who are 18 years of age or older. To apply, you must meet the following criteria:

• Prior international/cross-cultural mission trip
• Able to swim 50 feet
• Able to run a continuous mile
• Current passport
• High School Diploma or GED

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First, an applicant must pass all listed prerequisites.

Next, cadets are chosen based on a combination of previous life experiences, cross-cultural experiences, and their relationship with God. Both emotional and mental health are considered. References are contacted, leadership potential is considered, and physical fitness is taken into account when making the final cut. Based on these results, we use a rubric to select the most qualified Cadets. We are only accepting 12 applicants per year.

All cadet applicants will be notified on April 1st of the year for which they have applied of their approval status.

Cost

Year 1: $25,000
Year 2: $25,000
Deployment Year: $0
Year 3: $15,000
Year 4: TBD

After year four, Chazak Rescue will cover all expenses incurred while serving on the field under Chazak Rescue.

* The cost for year four varies depending on the training track chosen by the cadet.

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Expenses Beyond Tuition

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Our goal is to make tuition as all-inclusive as possible.  However, there are inevitably some additional costs.Following are the 3 biggest training costs that are not included in tuition.

1) Cadets are required to have medical insurance and travel insurance in order to train and deploy with Chazak Rescue.  The estimated cost of domestic medical insurance through Chazak’s insurance partnership is $150 per month.  Travel insurance is an additional $4 per day while deployed outside of the USA.  

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2) Chazak buys all training gear, most standard issue gear, and some standard issue clothing.  Cadets are required to buy some of their own clothing so they can get what fits, and some standard issue gear (Standard issue gear is the gear all cadets keep as their own.) The total estimated cost to a Cadet for gear and clothing that they are required to buy in years 1 and 2 combined is $1,000-$1,200* depending on their choices.  
*Note, a cadet could easily spend far over this estimate if they are buying only high-end brands.  However, this is not necessary or even recommended during training, as anyone considering long-term employment with Chazak Rescue will make much better gear and clothing choices after they have been through training.  

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3) Cadets are responsible for the cost of travel between their home and trainings.  Once they arrive at a training all travel, food, and lodging expenses are covered by Chazak.  For most training segments this will just be one round trip, but note that in some training segments, like 1.4 Core Training, Cadets will be traveling to several different training locations throughout the U.S.  We cannot provide an estimate of this cost as it will be dependent on where Cadets live relative to training locations.

All students in Chazak Academy help raise funds for Chazak.  This is done in an attempt to keep tuition at the low percentage of actual training cost that it is at currently.

On top of tuition, each class needs to raise $12,000 per student per year.  The total a class must raise is calculated by $12,000 X the number of students in the class, but the total is raised collectively as a team.  This can be raised with either one-time donations, or monthly recurring donations.  

While the total to be raised is calculated by the number of individuals in a class, the responsibility of fundraising the total amount is to the class as a whole, and accountability is to the class as a whole. Whatever is not raised, is divided evenly among the class members and added to their tuition.

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The majority of in-house training takes place at Camp Andrews in Holtwood, PA. First year cadets will also spend 7 weeks training at Deadwood Outfitters near Cascade, ID. Third party trainings and short practical trainings happen at scattered locations all over the US that vary from year to year. The majority of the training is in the east. Training deployments occur in a variety of countries that also vary from year to year.

If you choose to get married while in Chazak Rescue, you may drop out at the end of any year, take the following year off, and rejoin a year later. Or, if you don't want to interrupt your training, you may get married on any extended home break (mostly between years or over Christmas) or possibly during 3.3 deployment.

Chazak Academy is very demanding. Particularly in Year 1, you will probably struggle to find the time
you want to put into your dating relationship.

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At this time, Chazak Rescue is not certified by the U.S. Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) and therefore cannot enroll students with an F-1 or M-1 visa or issue the Form I-20 that prospective international students must use to apply for a student visa to enter the United States. For further information regarding student visas see the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Interested international students may contact Chazak directly to consider eligibility to apply for a temporary visitor visa.

If a student completes an associate's degree or bachelor's degree through Chazak Academy and wishes to transfer to another university, the student will need to determine the admission requirements for the specific university he or she would like to attend. Many schools will have information about how much transfer credit is accepted at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Currently, Anchor Christian University (ACU) has partnerships with four regionally accredited universities and one Bible College that recognize ACU programs and extend a transfer agreement to undergraduates and graduates of ACU. Because Chazak Academy courses are awarded credit by ACU, Chazak students also may find it easier to transfer to these schools within the agreement. If a student is interested in another university, contact the school directly to verify their acceptance of credits or a degree from a non-accredited university.

To see the ways ACU connects with other universities and schools, see their school partnerships page.

Because we are targeting war zones and hard-to-reach areas, it is very likely cadets will experience trauma while serving on the field. Cadets are prepared to be whole and healthy people in a number of ways including:

Briefing and debriefing before and after every deployment and as a regular part of life
A Psychology of Stress & Trauma class
Annual evaluations

At Chazak, we value creating a space where both cadets and staff are well taken care of while being able to process the realities of life.