Top Five Things To Know About Military Education

As a member of the Armed Forces, you are doing a service to your nation. With a college degree, you can continue that service long after your military career is over. But how much do you know about your options for getting that education?

• Are you aware of your GI Bill education benefits?
• Do you know your resource options for active duty or veteran status? How about high school and college resources as an ROTC cadet?
• Are you aware of distance education options for military personnel that can benefit you even while you're deployed, and which are the most military-friendly online colleges?
• Do you know how you can transfer your benefits to your dependents?

There are some important things to consider when it comes to your education, and this is the place to get started.

1. Know Your Benefits

It's no secret that the military offers some major benefits when it comes to education. Most servicemen have heard of the GI Bill, but it covers so much ground and policy that it can be a little confusing when it comes to where to start.

DID YOU KNOW? What is commonly referred to as the GI Bill of Rights got its start as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. Since its applauded conception, the bill has grown to encompass several smaller acts with different purposes, some even addressing helping veterans purchase houses and start small businesses.

The basics are this: in exchange for having served your country as a part of the U.S. armed forces, you are entitled to some form of tuition assistance. Whether you use it toward flight training, on-the-job apprenticing, a certificate program, a brick-and-mortar school or distance learning, if you want to further your education then the military can help you pay.

2. Know your Resources

With so many bills and acts and conditions and requirements, it can be hard knowing where to look and who to turn to regarding your education options. For that reason, there are professionals.

If you are still active duty, for instance, you may want to get a head start looking into the Transition Assistance Program (TAP), a program that provides you with the tools to make good future career choices, and even offers counselors to guide you through the complicated transition process from active to civilian life-and that includes counseling on education. Your local Fleet and Family Support Center should have lots of information on how to get started.

If you're looking in need of veteran education resources, then the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is there to work for you. They provide a wealth of information about education benefits online, with a large FAQ section, but there are always ways of contacting them if a website is not enough.

If you're an ROTC cadet still in high school or already entering college, the military can still put forward assistance in the form of ROTC scholarships, offering everything from two-to-four year plans (depending on your needs) and even living expense assistance. For non-scholarship cadets, the army even offers living expense provisions.

3. Know Your Goals

Not everyone has a permanent career in mind when they first join the military; in fact, that alone is enough of a reason to join up in the first place. With so many branches and career options, from medicine to engineering, a term in the armed forces can be the perfect place to start learning valuable skills and even a full-on trade. By getting a college education while you work, you can leave your post with the civilian corporate world in the palm of your hand.

DID YOU KNOW? Career counselors and education services officers are available to help you with finding a career outside the services that matches up with the skills you have learned on the inside.

Of course, people change just as frequently, and you may very well find that the path you take in your military career is no longer the path you want to take in your civilian life. In that case, getting an education can be crucial to making the most from a new line of work.

4. Know Your Options

Attending a four-year college on campus can be difficult, if not altogether impossible, when you are full-time dedicated to the military. (Not to mention that being deployed for months at a time doesn't help either.) Luckily, there are plenty of options outside of the traditional four-year college model that you may not have even considered.

Online colleges are growing in reputation by leaps and bounds, creating a name for themselves by providing all of the benefits of an education without the constriction of campus and time limits that would likely be your biggest obstacles. These days, thanks to the innovation of e-books, virtual classrooms, and distance learning, a great education for enlisted military happens daily all over the world. Quite a few online colleges, like University of Phoenix and Strayer University to name just a couple, go above and beyond in an effort to be military-friendly, offering extra support and in many cases even special tuition rates and scholarships.

If you want to get credit for what you already know, look into CLEP examinations. This series of tests can catch you credit for professional development, military service school courses, travel, and independent study-and unlike diploma mills which offer the same thing, this program is absolutely applicable and translatable wherever you take it. You can take your tests on base, so check out your support center for more information.

5. Know It's Not Only for You

It's a great thing to know that your education could well be taken care of, but did you know that this benefit doesn't stop at just you? There are many options available that make education for military dependents a very real opportunity.

Spouses of active duty personnel can take advantage of the Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts program, learning applicable career skills in areas that will be in high-demand wherever their spouses' military careers may take them. Meanwhile, thanks to the Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance Program (DEA) provision of the GI Bill, even dependents of some veterans can take part in the benefit of education assistance.

DID YOU KNOW? The military offers a range of resources not only to personnel, but to spouses as well. Check out their official site for lots of information on not just education and career services, but information on moving, military housing, health care, daycare and schools, and everything else that comes with being a military spouse.

Of course, it's not carte blanche full-ride scholarships to any college you choose: there are limitations on dependent benefits just as there are for active duty, and different states may have different policies for their schools and their residents. In California, for example, dependents must have a parent/spouse who is rated S/C disabled or deceased, and the benefits only extend to the public school systems (University of California, California State University, and community college). Before your loved ones apply, contact your local Department of Veterans Affairs and make sure you are clear on the policies as they apply to your state.