Journal-News.com

It's not easy becoming a funeral director in Ohio. Not easy staying one, either.

In most states, it simply takes a couple years at mortuary school, followed by an apprenticeship of a year or two.

But along with Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota and South Carolina, the Buckeye state has the strongest standards in the nation for aspiring undertakers, requiring a bachelor's degree, an apprenticeship for up to two years and 18 hours of continuing education every two years, according to the International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards.

Dan Flory, president of the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, said students who want to practice in Ohio take their first two years of college elsewhere, then transfer to his college for 15 straight months of full-time mortuary science.

Courses include anatomy, embalming and restorative art, social aspects of death and dying, funeral home merchandising and advanced funeral planning.

Enrollment, about 120 a year, is pretty steady, Flory said, but the demographics here and nationwide have changed over the years.

"When I came here, it was 95 percent male, and I would guess 90 percent came from families (in the funeral business). That was the case 30 years ago."

Today, about 25 percent come from families in the business, Flory said, and half of all students are female.

"We're getting lots of people from outside the profession. They tell us they don't know why, they just want to help people. That's the most common reason."

Some are motivated by television shows, such as Six Feet Under and CSI, he said.

But after all that work to become a funeral director, many discover the field's not for them, Flory said.

About 50 percent leave funeral directing, he said, but many of those move on to different aspects of the industry, such as funeral supplies.

"It's not an easy field," Flory said. "A lot of people get into this and decide it's too demanding on their time. It's a 24/7 job."

Flory said tuition at the Cincinnati school, a private, nonprofit institution, runs about $17,000 to $18,000 for the 15-month program.

For more information, visit:

• Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science at www.ccms.edu or (888) 377-8433.

• International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards, www.theconferenceonline.org

• The American Board of Funeral Service Education, www.abfs.org.