Today's blog features a story found at this link about how veteran students make their choices of which schools to attend.  For many students, the GI Bill, particularly the Post 9/11 GI Bill, gives them the freedom to attend school without having to work full-time while attending.  It also discusses the expectations of students from the schools they attend, and the preferences from two year versus four year institutions.

The one glaring part of this article that I took special interest to was the fear of some veterans that their education benefits would run out before they completed school.  Even with traditional bachelor's degrees requiring school for four years, some degrees take longer to obtain, five years in some more technical fields.  Additionally, the growing need for advanced certifications and graduate degrees in today's job market means that many veterans need to use funding to pay for graduate studies as well.  Currently, most of the funding for the GI Bill is sufficient for a bachelor's degree and not much else and doesn't take into account a change in degree and career plans or endeavors.

This is why it is more crucial now than ever to take advantage of tuition assistance and other benefits while you are still in the service.  This can only help to stave off the excessive--and growing--cost of tuition and help you prepare for the growing need for advanced studies beyond the graduate level.  Our book discusses this throughout, and it's incumbent upon those who are still serving to take advantage of additional benefits avaiable before you choose to leave the service. 

Happy Veterans Day to all! Today I will be celebrating at an event at a local VFW discussing veterans' education benefits with anyone who will listen. 

Here's a unique take from a Huffington Post contributor about a way people could connect with veterans on this special day and beyond.  It deals with the dilemma of veteran re-entry into civilian life.  It's certainly noteworthy that the unemployment rate for veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is high (though part of this may be attributed, thankfully, to taking advantage of the education benefits afforded to them), and the issue of returning from the unbridled chaos of the desert battlefields to life back home in our fragile economy can lead to frustration among our veterans.  It's easy for me to say as an author preaching education that the easiest thing to do is to go to school, but sometimes that's not the easiest thing for the individual.  There are issues ranging from basic fear of returning to a classroom after half a lifetime away from it, to the ravages of PTSD and IED injuries making the return an even more daunting task.  The thought here is that helping a veteran by offering your time to one can make the difference, make the transition to the classroom that much easier.  Maybe at the collegiate level, students could take part in a veteran student orientation day to help them adjust to life at school.  This article here takes that approach to a much larger level and reminds the readers that, in a way, veterans are our one of our nation's most important resources.  The author's call to arms of civilians to do their part to recognize and help--particularly young civilians--truly made this veteran's day!

In our own endeavors to help veterans, Ed and I as most of you know will be donating 15% of the proceeds from each book sold through our website to the Wounded Warrior Project.  I will be discussing our involvement in a future blog.  Please visit the link here for further details about this amazing organization. 

Here's a favorite picture of mine from my old unit, B-Co 143rd Forward Support Battalion.  I'm about in the dead center in back of the unit flag.  Best wishes to all my friends in this picture, particularly those still fighting to keep us safe. 

I thought about some of my favorite songs to share loosely relating to the military.  There's a ton of them, and I'll share them in future posts.  Here's one from Johnny Cash that about sums up what our men and women who serve seem to do best even under the toughest of circumstances. 

Veterans have become a population that, from the perspective of some colleges, tailor-made for the classroom. Here, I'm not referring only to the benefit their military service would have on their classroom discipline and their positive influence on others.  Rather, I'm referring to the recognition of some schools that veterans are a way to draw guaranteed income from a population who have an guaranteed payment source.  Some for-profit institutions have been known to take advantage of this recently. 

In this article about online schools, there is a specific example about how one institution made false promises about the prospect of jobs with degrees, and even may have used it's association with a parent company to draw in veteran students.  The for-profit tag has long since had a negative connotation among prospective students, other schools, and even employers after obtaining degrees that may have falsely promised something that could not be delivered.  Even though there are some for-profit schools that deliver a quality education, there are some that have come into questionable practices as of late. 

So why would the veteran population seem so vulnerable to these practices?  Upon leaving the service, the realization that your time and experience in service may not equate to the income potential it once did may lead to the desire to earn a degree as quickly as possible.  The online format of learning, coupled with the accelerated format for obtaining degrees seem like a can't-miss proposition.  This may indeed be the case, but when exploring options for such schools, some schools that may not have the veteran's best interest in mind may have an open door to take advantage of their desire to proceed.  That's where some schools that aren't military friendly may try to step in and take advantage of veterans.  With the promise a source to finance tuition AND an income stream from BAH coming to veterans with the new Post 9/11 GI Bill, this means that more veterans are looking for education options than before its inception and financial aid to cover any gaps.  This creates an opportunity for schools like never before. 

It's the perfect storm--the eager veteran student, Uncle Sugar's money in hand, and the institution with the admissions door wide open.  It all seems too perfect--and in some cases it is. 

There are many reputable schools, both state and private, for-profit and not for-profit--that have the veteran's best interests in mind.  But still many veterans seem to be getting hosed by schools promising them something they just can't deliver.  We discuss these issues in the book in-depth and how to confront them, but here are a few quick tips:

• Do your research  Several schools are out there that are working in your best interest.  It's your job to have an idea who they are before moving forward
• Don't feel pressured If you need some time to think about things, have an upcoming deployment that may take precedent, but still feel like the person on the other end of the phone won't take no for an answer, you're probably not in the right place.
• Does the school have a veteran liaison  Having a voice for veterans on campus even for online schools can be a tremendous resource for you and an advocate when things happen, such as sudden deployments. 

During your military training, you would never consider moving forward without having a clear idea of where you're going first.  So why would you treat your education any different?  You worked hard through your service to maximize your education dollar--don't throw it away in an act of desperation.  Instead, look at it as an opportunity to excel in life.  Make sure you are truly making the right choice when choosing your education institution.  Make sure it's right for you and make sure they have your best interests in mind!