Take Advantage of Education Assistance Before Entering the Civilian Workforce

Making the leap from active duty to civilian life is one of the most abrupt and difficult changes military personnel face. It’s never too early to prepare for your next career by taking advantage of education assistance while still on active duty.

Military Tuition Assistance (TA) is a benefit paid to eligible members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. Congress has given each service the ability to pay up to 100% for the tuition expenses of its members. Each service has its own criteria for eligibility, obligated service, application process’ and restrictions. This money is usually paid directly to the institution by the individual services. While the decision to pursue a degree may be a difficult, TA can lessen your financial concerns considerably, since it pays up to 100 percent of tuition expenses for semester hours costing $250 or less. TA is not a loan! It should be viewed as money you have earned just like your base pay.

TA only covers accredited institutions recognized by the Department of Education. Service members need to first check with an education counselor for the specifics involving TA by visiting their local installation education office or by going online to a virtual education center. Tuition assistance may be used for the following programs:

• Vocational/technical programs
• Undergraduate programs
• Graduate programs
• Independent study
• Distance-learning programs

TA is open to officers, warrant officers and enlisted active duty service personnel. In addition, members of the National Guard and Reserve Components may be eligible for TA based on their service eligibility. To be eligible for TA, an enlisted service member must have enough time remaining in service to complete the course for which he or she has applied. After the completion of a course, an officer using TA must fulfill a service obligation that runs parallel with – not in addition to – any existing service obligation.

TA will fund up to 100 percent of your college tuition and certain fees with the following limits:

• Not to exceed $250 per semester credit hour or $166 per quarter credit hour
• Not to exceed $4,500 per fiscal year, October 1 through September 30

TA will not cover the following expenses:

• Books and course materials
• Flight training fees
• Taking the same course twice
• Continuing education units, or CEUs

Additionally, active duty members may elect to use the Tuition Assistance Top Up benefit in addition to your TA to cover high tuition costs or fees not covered by TA. This benefit program may be an option if you plan to use TA to complete a degree program while on active duty, and do not plan to continue your education after service. Top-up can also be helpful for just taking a few courses with TA while on active duty; then you can save most of your GI Bill benefits for after service to complete your education program.

To be eligible for the Top-Up benefit, you must be:

• Approved for TA by your military branch
• Be eligible for GI Bill benefits.
• Must be a GI Bill participant
• Still on active duty
• Must have served at least two full years of active duty

The amount of the benefit is limited to the amount that the person would receive for the same course if regular GI Bill benefits were being paid. In no case can the amount paid by the military combined with the amount paid by VA be more than the total cost of the course. Most importantly, If you receive the Top-Up benefit, your regular GI Bill benefits will be reduced. You must apply for GI Bill using the VA’s VETS.GOV website before using the Top-up benefit.

4 Life Hacks for GI Bill Benefits

The GI Bill is one of the best benefits of being a military member and a primary reason many join the military! These programs were designed to help service members, Veterans, and families reach their education goals. As your transition out of the military approaches, determining your full education benefits and how you want to use them should be a top priority. We’ve provided key insights from transitioned Veterans and spouses on helpful hacks to make this process easier.

Know Your Career Path

The Post-9/11 and Montgomery GI Bills offer 36 months of education benefits, but that time goes by quickly! We suggest mitigating the headache of changing majors several times during your education by having a solid understanding of your career path. The last thing you’ll want to do is get mid-way through your benefits to realize you aren’t satisfied with the career program you originally selected! VA’s Education and Career Counseling program is a great opportunity for Service Members, Veterans and dependents to get personalized counseling and support to help guide their career paths.

HACK ALERT: The VA also offers an aptitude test at no cost to all eligible benefit recipients. CareerScope can be used by Veterans to determine the best career path for transition to civilian life. You will be provided with an assessment of your interests and aptitudes, and given recommendations about which careers you may enjoy and be successful doing, along with suggested courses and trainings associated with those careers. By using these helpful tools, you can ensure the most effective use of your VA benefits and achieve your goals.

Find Out Which VA Benefits You are Eligible

Some might find they’re eligible for several types of VA education and training benefits, but there are many things to consider before applying for a GI Bill program. The most popular option is the Post-9/11 GI Bill, offered to those who have served on active duty for 90 or more days after Sept. 10, 2001. To qualify for the full benefit a Veteran must have served at least three years of active duty after September 10, 2001. The payment rate depends on how much active duty time a member has in service. The second most popular education benefit option is the  Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty (MGIB-AD) This is offered to active duty members who enroll and pay $100 per month for 12 months and are then entitled to receive a monthly education benefit once they have completed a minimum service obligation. It is important to note that if you’re eligible for more than one education benefit, such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Montgomery GI Bill, you must choose which benefit to receive, a decision that’s final and cannot be changed.

HACK ALERT: The VA offers a GI Bill Comparison Tool to make it easier to research colleges and employers approved for the GI Bill. By answering a few questions about yourself and the intended educational institution you’re considering, you’ll receive an estimate of your GI Bill benefits; providing you with information about the facility’s value and affordability.

Transfer to Dependents

Spouses and family members may also be eligible for education and training assistance. In fact, 25 percent of those benefiting from VAs education programs are non-Veterans. Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, servicemembers are able to transfer all or some unused benefits to their spouse or dependent children. While in the armed forces, servicemembers can transfer their benefits using the Transfer of Education Benefits (TEB) website to designate, modify, and revoke a Transfer of Entitlement (TOE) request.

HACK ALERT: The request to transfer unused GI Bill benefits to eligible dependents must be completed while serving as an active member of the Armed Forces. All transfer requests are submitted and approved while the member is in the armed forces.  Please do not wait until you are on Veteran status to make this change! You will not be able to transfer benefits after transitioning to your civilian career.

Yellow Ribbon Schools

For those of you who decide to use the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit, it’s important to note that your actual tuition & fees may exceed the amount paid for by the GI Bill; especially if you are attending a private school or are attending a public school as a nonresident student. The Post-9/11 GI Bill pays only the lower of the actual tuition & fees or the national maximum per academic. To mitigate these extra fees, several Degree Granting Institutions (colleges and university) participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program to make additional funds available for your education program without an additional charge to your GI Bill entitlement. These institutions voluntarily enter into a Yellow Ribbon Agreement with the VA and choose the amount of tuition and fees that will be contributed. The VA matches that amount and issues payments directly to the institution. To receive benefits under the Yellow Ribbon Program you must be eligible for the maximum benefit rate under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

HACK ALERT: Many Yellow Ribbon schools have a VA Benefits coordinator within their registrar office. These coordinators are employed by the university to support and encourage all students using VA education benefits. They can also assist you with military call-ups, leave of absences, and transferring credit for military service; plus promote Veteran-focused events on campus.  

• Disability claims
• Education benefits
• Healthcare support
• Financial assistance
• Employment services
• Housing services
• Entrepreneurial support
• Mentorship

CREATE A NETWORK FOR THE VETERANS YOU WORK WITH

While they’re in the military, Veterans form strong bonds with their “battle buddies” — coming to rely on them not only during combat, but also in their day-to-day lives as friends. Your VSO can make a greater impact in your community by creating a relevant, engaging forum for Veterans to re-create those bonds — whether it be at local events, through a Facebook Group, or as a LinkedIn networking group. These opportunities for Veterans to interact with each other let them build deep connections as they transition into their post-civilian lives.

PROVIDE MEANINGFUL RESOURCES

The most successful VSOs provide a variety of benefits to not only their Veteran members, but also to their communities at large, the broader military and Veteran population, and military supporters. By ensuring that your VSO publishes only meaningful, relevant content online for your Veterans, for example, you can become a “go-to” resource within your service category. For VSOs with in-person programs and services, make sure you are using proper vetting and testing before creating them — and capturing feedback from beneficiaries afterward — to deliver a bigger impact.

PARTNER WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

With the saturation of VSOs in the U.S. today, collaboration with others working in a similar space is critical. Rather than fuel competition, collaborating with these organizations lets you pool your resources and make a greater impact for Veterans.

Together, your VSOs can co-host events, co-sponsor webinars, or provide co-branded brochures and informational packets for Veterans. Partnerships embody the ethos of “service over self” that Veterans value highly, demonstrating to your target audience that you are working with other VSOs toward a common good.

1. Veterans have served during times of war and peace. A Veteran is any person who has ever served in the five branches of the Armed Forces — U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard — in times of war of peace, whether as active duty (full time) or in the National Guard or Reserves (part time). Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations explains that a Veteran is a person who completed a service for any branch of the Armed Forces as long as they were not dishonorably discharged. Approximately 16.1 million Veterans alive today have served during at least one war.

2. There are more than 65,000 personal Veterans stories available to the public. The Veterans History Project, through the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, has collected over 65,000 individual Veterans’ war stories from a variety of branches and service eras to preserve them and make them accessible for future generations. This collection is extensive, and it includes videotapes, audiotapes, written memoirs, visual materials, and letters from soldiers from World War II to the present.

3. Veterans are more likely to vote. Almost 70 percent of Veterans vote in each election cycle, placing their voting rate at nearly 10 percent  higher than the non-Veteran population.

4. Veterans are much more likely to own a business. A U.S. Small Business Administration study found that Veterans are 45 percent more likely to be self-employed as small business owners than are non-Veterans.  In fact, there are over 2.4 million Veteran-owned businesses in the United States, with the most popular industries being professional, scientific, and technical services.

5. Most Veterans live in the South and the West. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says that more than 1 million Veterans currently live in either California, Florida, or Texas. The five most Veteran-dense cities include Killeen, Texas, Clarksville, Tennessee, Jacksonville, North Carolina, Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Hampton, Virginia.

6. The Veteran population is diverse. Given that the military is the largest and most far-reaching employer in the country, it’s perhaps not surprising that more than 1 in 5 Veterans (21 percent) are either African-American, Asian-American, or Latino. About 1 in 10 (9 percent) overall are also women. These rates are only expected to grow as America itself becomes more diverse — to 1 in 3 nonwhites and 2 in 10 women by 2045, nearly double what they are today.

7. Veterans are growing rarer as a group. Now that the U.S. military is an all-volunteer force — versus draft enlistment during the Vietnam War era — the Veteran population is actually shrinking. VA has projected that between 2016 and 2045, the number of Veterans in America will decrease by about 40 percent. What this means is that the coming decades will see a Veteran community that is more both more select and more geographically dispersed than the community of Veterans today.

8. More Americans support funding for Veterans than for schools and highways. An April 2017 survey by Pew Research Center found that 3 in 4 respondents (75 percent) would increase federal spending on Veterans benefits and services if the budget were up to them. That’s more than the percentage who would increase spending on education (67 percent) and on infrastructure (58 percent). It’s also the highest level in more than two decades, up from 58 percent in 2001.

9. Nearly 1 in 10 U.S. businesses (excluding farms) are owned by Veterans. According to 2012 data, roughly 2.5 million of America’s 27.6 million nonfarm businesses are majority-owned by Veterans.

10. Student Veterans are more likely to graduate from college than their peers. Even when comparing ages and schedules, Veterans outshine civilians when it comes to graduation rates. While only half of traditional students finish their degrees, nearly three-quarters of Veterans who use the GI Bill make it through school. (Veterans’ average GPA during college is also slightly higher: 3.35 for Vets versus 3.11 overall.)

11. You’re less likely to be president if you haven’t served in the military. You read that right: 31 out of the 45 U.S. presidents had a military career before getting elected to the nation’s highest office. All but one president who enlisted went on to become an officer (James Buchanan), and Theodore Roosevelt even earned the highest honor in the military (the Medal of Honor).

MEDITATION
Don’t worry, meditation doesn’t always mean sitting on the ground cross-legged, wearing stretchy pants, and chanting. It can actually take many forms, and your “sessions” can happen in whatever places, positions, and clothes feel most comfortable to you — including in your office at work, while you’re walking or running, or as you’re laying down in bed.

All you need is a place to clear your head and a commitment to focusing your mind. Given that many Veterans separate from the military with anxiety, research shows that meditation can have a positive impact on your reintegration into your family or community.

That’s because it can help you recognize your emotions and thoughts without reacting negatively to them. Meditation can also help you respond more thoughtfully to your emotions without impulse and overreaction, which provides a feeling of comfort and control. Try meditating for 5 to 10 minutes each day to start, and explore apps and other tools to keep your momentum going.

JOURNALING
You may be surprised to learn that you can often reduce your anxious thoughts by writing them down. Try using an empty notebook or a journal from the store with pre-written daily prompts. If your racing thoughts tend to flare up in public settings, consider a pocket-sized notepad where you can jot quick ideas — getting them out of your head. Taking 10 to 15 minutes a day to write down your anxieties, goals, and thoughts will help you feel more organized, clear-headed, and able to handle your transition.

SLOWING DOWN YOUR MEALS
American culture — and especially the military — tends to promote working through lunches, which doesn’t let you truly enjoy each meal. Taking the time to savor the flavors of your food and creating a positive environment at home during meals will help you build relationships with peers and family, as well as calm your body and mind. Know too that bonding time is especially important for everyone when you’re all adjusting to your new post-military home and life.

SELF-CARE
During your time in the military, a routine was set for you to help you thrive. Now that you’re out, take the time each day to devote to self-care. This will let you make sure all your basic needs are met and that you won’t burn out. Whether you dedicate time to fitness, playing with your dog, relaxing with your family, or a mid afternoon nap, a routine of self-care will help you feel refreshed and ready to take on the transition into civilian life.

NATURE
In a world surrounded by technology, spending some time outdoors each day will help you stay in the moment and clear your head. Whether you choose to go for daily walks, fill your home with plants to bring in a fresh feeling, or tend to a small garden in your backyard, these activities will bring you closer to nature. If there are moments when you feel anxious, consider a trip to the local park or lake to free your mind.

GRATITUDE
Recognize that transitioning out of the military can be a stressful time. Commit to starting each day with an appreciation for one to three aspects of your life that you are grateful for, which will set the mood for the rest of your day. Even on challenging days, there is always something to be thankful for.