I am currently the director of DeSales University EMS down in Allentown, PA. We were named NCEMSF Organization of the Year last year, and we only started up the organization in 2008. We are a PA "Quick response service" (QRS) which treats students, but we do not yet transport (Working on it!) We have about 40 members, with about half being active EMT's. Some are involved in many other things on campus, so we try and not ask to much from our membership as we are completely volunteer. We only have bimonthly meetings and we ask them to run a minimum of 4 on calls a month (12 hours each, in which they just have to take the vehicle and be on campus), with one weekend shift included. We too were stonewalled by many administrators, our police chief, our vice presidents, etc and in some ways still are on certain topics. The best tips towards success that have for you are as follows, some may work, some may not but its what I can offer: - You need "adults" working for you. Whether it be a professor, a medical director, or a board member, at the end of the day we are still students and can only get so far. An "older person" who is willing to fight for you will prove to be invaluable. We found that our nursing dept. was excited to help us and was willing to fight for university support. - Generally, I found that if you are denied by one person, go on to the next. Its the old "mommy said no, but maybe daddy will say yes" trick. Dirty tactic? Perhaps but I find that most administrators believe they are in charge of a certain area when their actually not. -Anything you do, get published. Have the newspaper and news crews invited to every event you host, no matter how big or small. Get your name out there and build up good rapport. Colleges love, and will be more willing to support, ANYTHING that gives them good press to the public. Also check with your admissions staff to make up a pamphlet about your squad. They LOVE showing off how safe their campus is to prospective students. -Building off that, host events! CPR days, BP screenings, Giveaways, Raffles, Info sessions, ***Drills with police dept, fire dept, nursing dept,*** Start small but do something! Show the school your proactive and will benefit from their continued support. -Lastly, Cover your you-know-what. Save all e-mails and letters from the school. Get written confirmation of any support or promises they make because we were promised a lot and given a little when those who said they would support us chose to back out and we had no proof. I hope that helps a bit, feel free to shoot me an e-mail to with any questions I would be more than willing to help it is a battle with administration, but money is out their, especially for emergency management and preparedness. There is no reason you should not get a piece of the pie.