GI Bill benefits can now be transferred to eligible spouses and children. Yet the vast majority of universities are yet to catch on to the fact that not everyone who uses benefits has served. They are veteran-friendly, not military friendly. Spouses and children also need information and support services while in school.
I work for a major private university, which is a Yellow Ribbon Program participant with no cap on the dollar amount or number of eligible servicemembers, veterans, and dependents. I think that’s pretty cool, considering that the annual tuition of almost fulltime tuition of about 35k is covered under the program. However, when I sit at the Veterans Planning Committee meetings which I am a member of, I observe a missed opportunity as there is often little or no mention of family members.
While I’m sure to bring it up as often as I can, I’m often left feeling like I could have done a better job at getting the message across to the committee… Although I am just getting warmed up and will continue to speak up as long as anyone will listen, or until there are some valuable changes. Don’t get me wrong – as a spouse, I do not want to take away from my husband’s service, but at the same time, I don’t want to be left out of anything that has even the slightest potential to benefit me and my family. Now granted I must say that our university has gone through a tremendous amount of outreach and programming to ensure that all military students feel welcome.
Here’s what institutions are missing
Military careers don’t last forever! With the current state of the economy and direction of the job market, more military families are starting to/encouraged to plan for retirement early. Even more are exploring the option of getting, or finishing up that degree or vocational training, to increase marketability. According to the Department of Defense:
84% of military spouses have some college
25% have a Bachelor’s degree
10% have an advanced degree
Therefore, having a more inclusive approach to military students (servicemembers, veterans, and dependents) will extend the outreach, subsequently attracting and retaining more of this demographic. Additionally, some veterans would rather transfer Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to eligible dependents, than use it themselves.
And so for all my fellow spouses out there, attending, working for, or affiliated with colleges and universities, please be sure to let your voice be heard with regards to issues of benefits and programming on campus and online. After all, it is no joke supporting our soldiers, and any support we can get to make our “home front mission” easier is always highly appreciated.
Patience Ajoff is an Army Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) spouse who now works for a top tier private university thanks to a referral from the Employment Readiness Manager at Fort Dix, NJ. She is presently pursuing a graduate certificate in Higher Education Administration at Drexel University online.
About Why Didn't You Tell Me
Comments
WONDERFUL POST! I agree with you and have been expressing similar sentiment since I enrolled in a graduate program years ago.
I found out from past experiences that military friendly does not mean military FAMILY friendly. I think that the reason there is limited discussion on the families is that higher educational institutions are trying to play catch-up–first to account for all of the veterans using Chapter 33 (GI Bill), and secondly to the dependents now using those same benefits. I remember prior to the Post-9/11 GI Bill going into effect, there was no discussion at all about veterans on campus.
You are a doing a good thing by raising awareness–keep up the great work because your advocacy will demonstrate the need for colleges and universities to understand all aspects of the military population. If you want to make the case for understanding the families, look out for the New Directions in Adult and Continuing Education in August. It is going to focus on the different populations of the military, and one of them is about military spouses.
Thanks again for a great post.
Thanks… I will certainly be on the look out for that publication.
Also, there are several institutions that I would classify as military family and veteran family friendly…there are not many, and most universities one would attend in their hometown or city (I am speaking mainly to Guard and Reserve members who may not live near a base) probaby are not aware of what is meant by the term: hence, this blog post is spot on.
I encourage folks to check out the Council of Colleges and Military Educators (www.ccmeonline.org). While you will find the most well known military friendly schools (such as University of Maryland University College and American Military University), you will see several others who have tuition discounts and spouse scholarships (Fort Hays State University comes to mind).
Thanks,
Randy with military.com
One additional note…
In recent years, it has become trendy to become labled a 'military friendly institutino; most of the tima all the school has to do is answer a few generic surveys and to pay money to advertise in some 'exclusive' magazine. But, to your point here, many of those institutions are paying lip service…most of the time they want to attract veterans and the GI Bill money they earn. They really don't understand the difference between a military member and a veteran; and they would be hard pressed to recognize the military family as a deserving learning community. But, THEY SHOULD!!
Randy,
I certainly agree with both of your comments, particularly your observation about Reserves and National Guard. I would also add that the more institutions are finding out that family members are a critical part of this already complex student demographic, the better services we are starting to see emerge across the country.
My husband goes to a school I consider military friendly even though they don't necessarily tout themselves as such. I found his program simply by searching the internet for degrees that can be done entirely online through public/state schools, so I searched on individual schools. As a computer programmer I was, however, frustrated with how un-user friendly many of the websites are out there and how utterly difficult it would have been for my husband to navigate through everything.
He is currently attending the U of Oklahoma (I would consider a top-tier public school). His Masters is entirely online and can be completed in several different ways, without him ever stepping foot on campus, the programs listed under this option are all administered in the same way and anyone can take part. They have separate tuition for military folks (not sure about families) and links to MyCAA approved programs as well. I even found that you can get a Bachelors from Harvard University online as well (but not Yale). Still expensive (it is Harvard, afterall), but it is available. I found a online degrees from my husbands favorite college (Roll Tide!) and as much as he thought about it, it just wasn't what he really needed.
As a professional student ( I have a Bachelors and 2 Associates, and am working on an additional Bachelors and attending some sort of college course for the last 20+ years) I have much experience with many different schools. I am also a Veteran and used up my GI Bill many years ago. And after much pressure and pushing on my part, my husband finally started going to school himself after a mentor told him he needed it and now he is seeing first hand what is happening with his peers who have not gotten at least a Bachelors. His GI Bill will go to our son, thank goodness, since we kinda dropped the ball on his college fund.
I have found that schools are not necessarily UN-family friendly, they simply don't know that there is a need for the families similar to their active duty spouse. They assume that since they are not active duty, there is nothing standing in the way of them pursuing a traditional degree. They don't understand that while the spouse may be USING the GI Bill, they never got the numerous briefings about the GI Bill and probably don't really understand how it works or what all the benefits truly are. So it's up to us to inform them and ask the questions that make them ask the questions (it you get what I mean).
I believe the community reached out to the U of Oklahoma and let them know what they needed (Tinker AFB is located nearby and the largest Depot Repair Center for AF aircraft is there is well). I'm not an Oklahoma fan and my husband still won't buy a T-shirt, but they have several online degrees, their rates are good, and they seem to understand about the military, so they are highly recommended in my book. I'm even considering them for a Masters degree myself. We are stationed on the opposite side of Oklahoma btw, so we've never been to campus, although we've driven by it on occasion.
Again, I recommend going to specific University/College websites and doing some sniffing around, if you can't find any information, you might try contacting the VA office on that campus to see if they have something that might work for you. I have found that, in general, public universities are MUCH cheaper than any of the private universities. And you have to be careful to make sure that "some" of those that advertise ALOT are actually accredited if you ever decide to leave and go to a different school. Schools are very picky about transferring credits over.
Great Article!
While I am not married to nor have served in the military, I work as an Academic Advisor and Program Coordinator at a major private university too. In my role, I often speak with dozens of students who have served and are now receiving VA Benefits, and I try to keep them up to date on contacts and offices that they can visit to make sure that are well taken care of.
Thank you for shedding light on the benefits that spouses and dependents are afforded as they too are commended on being such a strong system of support while their loved one is serving. While I do not work directly in the VA Department at the university, I benefit greatly from reading this, whereby I can pass along the knowledge to students in an effort to inform and assist their spouses and family through available support services. Services that many, so not know even exist, especially young military and veteran families.
When looking for a ‘”Military Friendly” school, it is, in my opinion, more important to look at the transfer policy, the residency requirement, if the military tuition rates are extended to dependents, etc. As a spouse myself, I would hate to think of a College as supportive if they simply take my VA Benefits. There are so many more pieces to the puzzle!!! A great place to start, in addition to CCME schools, as Randy mentioned above, but also Servicemember Opprotunity Colleges (http://www.soc.aascu.org/socconsortium/Default.html). These schools have agreed to limit residency requirements, accept ACE recommended credits for transfer, and credit for exams such as CLEP/DANTES exams. It is important to point out that a college can be as friendly as can be, but if you change majors or the school does not have a similar program, the transfer credits are not automatically awarded, regardless of the organizations the school belongs to or agreements they have signed. They have to “fit” or “plug in” as applicable credit. It’s important to do research on the college, it’s policies, and it’s programs.
(I guess I should point out that I work in the military office of a public institution).
Oh I'm learning that now from Kaplan. Said military friendly school said recieve discount on tution great said had seperate department to handle militart. My wife 100% disabled veteran who reently just passed away. so I am using education benifit under chapter 35. So 5more classes to go graduate in sepetember with bachelors. Said I have a balance I said I shouldn' told them finicial aid grants and discount I shouldn't owe money. Said I don't get the discount. Said why I have been recieving for over a year. Your not military and should not have given it to you. I complained and filed complaints the Attorney General. So I no longer am considered military. Does not include spouses. I have trouble getting certification sent. If I was not so close to graduating I would leave and go to another school. Kaplan is not military friendly it just to get you in as you see that drop the bomb shell close to graduating. Wonderful. My daughter was going to go not no. Same thing she as told I was told.