Hi everyone and welcome (or welcome back) to the blog “Soldier to Student”. I want to address active duty TA in this blog and I hope to generate some discussion with this post. When I first showed up to my unit in 2021 I filled out an initial counseling where I put short-term and long-term professional and personal goals. One of my short-term goals was to sign up for college classes with a long-term goal of getting my associates during my contract. Short-term goals are supposed to be achieved within six to twelve months in the Army and mine was. With that being said I did waste almost 5 months procrastinating on going to the on-post education center and signing up. Once I did I realized that the process was not hard and taking classes was very manageable. In a fiscal year the Army will now cover eighteen credit hours (it recently changed, it was sixteen when I was in), with a credit hour cap of $250. The school I got my associates through offered four credit hour classes which meant I could take four classes in a year and have the army pay for it. My biggest regret is not maxing out my TA every year. While I was able to get my associates I could have completed more classes towards my bachelors but lost out on that by procrastinating. When I was active duty I used to counsel my soldiers on using TA because I strongly believe it is something that is not utilized and should be. In a four year contract you can complete 72 credits with 60 credits being an associates degree, FOR FREE. This is a great way to save your GI Bill for your bachelors and masters. I wish NCO’s would encourage their soldiers more to use this benefit. In my old battery (company) there were maybe 4-5 other soldiers taking classes. That number should be multiplied by ten! I found that within a section if someone is taking classes then more soldiers will follow suit. So if anyone on this page is still active duty or is still communicating with friends/family that is active duty, motivate them to start taking classes now! I have not met one person that took classes during their contract that said it wasn’t worth it.
Hi everyone and welcome to the blog ‘Soldier to Student”. This blog is going to cover the four educational grants you may or may not be eligible for. Since these grants are very complex, this post will be more of a broad overview with future posts going more into depth on individual grants. These grants include the Post 9-11 GI Bill, the Montgomery GI Bill, the Illinois Veterans Grant, and the Illinois National Guard Grant. The Post 9-11 GI Bill (PGIB or Chapter 33): This is a federal grant given to those who have served on active duty or in the Selected Reserve for 90 or more days after Sep. 10, 2001. The payment rate depends on how much active-duty time or federal service a member has. What it can pay may include… Tuition and fees Money for housing Money for books and supplies Money to help you move from a rural area to go to school Below I am going to link the official page for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs which will include a more in-depth...
Comments
Post a Comment