Nothing against the grunts, who we all know do the hard labor of our countries backbone, but we have all heard the jokes.
So now that we have established what this entire blog will detail, I am going to cover some of the most important things that need to happen during your transition period or right after.
Most of you are going to come out of the military without any formal college education. This leads into having difficulty finding a job, or you may just not even know where to start when looking at schools. I know that when I first came out of the military I had my Associates Degree, but most companies want a Bachelors. So the entire process of "my military experience will cover my degree" no longer applies in most situations.
I was doing some research and found that there are a lot of veterans who have little to no education, high unemployment rates, and trouble transitioning in general. I checked out an article by Susan Adams from Frobes and found some interesting information you may find usefull...
Unemployment Rates
|
Age Group
|
Percentage
|
|
18 – 24
|
30%
|
|
25 – 34
|
13%
|
Now on top of this, 60% of the population is made up of this age group. There is only about 5% of these people that hold a Bachelors Degree. So statistically speaking, this means that only 3 out of 100 people hold a Bachelors. I am going to guess that you probably are one of the 97 that don't have a degree, but if you do, congratulations, you are ahead of the curve. For those of you who don't, I have a few simple resources that will help you excel in this area.
First, make sure you use the Tuition Assitance (TA) that your branch provides. The following links will take you to the FAFSA website and allow you to view each branches TA program. They also have a link in each section that will take you to the acutal TA website for that branch so you can fill out the forms. Please do remember, this is for those who are STILL enlisted.
- Army
- Marines
- Navy
- Reserves
Next, if you are already out of the military and looking to go back to school, you need to pick a field. If you love engineering, then go for it. Added bonus if you did that in the military because A LOT of schools take your military experience into consideration for credit hours!!! Now who doesn't love free credits for just doing your job in the past...I know I LOVED IT! Once you have established what you want to do, you need to find a school to attend. There are so many schools available that I am not going to even try to list them because depending on your location it might not even help. I will say that I have always done DISTANCE LEARNING (online college) and it allowed me to get my first degree while in the Army and now I am working towards my Bachelors while I work full-time. I highly recomend this for those who do not have time to go to an on-campus location and are VERY SELF DISCIPLINED as you will need to make sure that you can get the work done.
Once you have selected your program and school, the next thing you want to do is make sure you apply for FAFSA. This is a tool designed to give you some free money to attend school with. While the amount will vary based on your specific situation, some things that it takes into consideration is your income, marital status and if you have any dependents.
The very last step that I would highly encourage is that you start using your GI BILL. This is the money that you recieve when you go to school after the military and has a few different options. The most popular seem to be the Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Bill which will pay you directly, and then the Post 9/11 GI Bill which will pay the school and send you a Cost of Living Allowance (COLA). You can also check out the other options that are on the site incase you qualify for those or see one that is more suited for what you want.
Outside of these basics, there are some things that you can do such as have your company reimbures you for your classes if they offer it, apply for scholarships (which vary by location, school and several other factors), or take out loans (I have yet to do this due to FAFSA, GI Bill and Scholoarships). As always, make sure that you research what you are doing and always ASK if you have any questions. I will include all the links again to what I went over at the end of this post. An should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to comment and I will do my best to point you in the right direction.
An remember...
LINKS TO TA RESOURCES
- Army
LINKS TO FAFSA
- FAFSA
LINKS TO GI BILL
- GI BILL
Sources:
Adams, S. (2012, November 9). The Best Places For Veterans. Forbes. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/11/09/the-best-places-for-veterans/
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