NCO- Officer

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bentaylor

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I am currently an Active Duty Army- 68X (behavioral health) NCO, and my goal is to become an Officer (Psychologist). I am 3 classes away from my AA in GS (figured I should pick it up) and I will then earn my BS in Psych at the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio).
Given the new restrictions to Tuition Assistance ($4,500 or 16 credits per FY); does anyone have any suggestions for the best course of action to earn my degree and become an Army psychologist?
My plan, so far, is to earn my undergrad, take the GRE, and apply to USUHS. What are some other recommendations if I don't gain acceptance into that university? HPSP?
Finally, if I were to get out of the Army, and use the Post 9/11 GI Bill to further my education; would I be able to use the Post 9/11 Bill and HPSP simultaneously?
Any assistance or advice is appreciated.

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I am currently an Active Duty Army- 68X (behavioral health) NCO, and my goal is to become an Officer (Psychologist). I am 3 classes away from my AA in GS (figured I should pick it up) and I will then earn my BS in Psych at the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio).
Given the new restrictions to Tuition Assistance ($4,500 or 16 credits per FY); does anyone have any suggestions for the best course of action to earn my degree and become an Army psychologist?
My plan, so far, is to earn my undergrad, take the GRE, and apply to USUHS. What are some other recommendations if I don't gain acceptance into that university? HPSP?
Finally, if I were to get out of the Army, and use the Post 9/11 GI Bill to further my education; would I be able to use the Post 9/11 Bill and HPSP simultaneously?
Any assistance or advice is appreciated.


How long will it take you to complete your BA total? I am Navy and left Active Duty to go to grad school because while it was possible for my to finish the last few classes of my BA while enlisted and then start my MA i knew that I would run out of TA and that mission essential requirements would force me to put my education second.
The GI Bill is awesome and it paid for my BA and MA because I used a lot of TA and I clepped a lot of courses. I do not know if you can use it simultaneously with a scholarship program but I will look into and let you know.
I wanted to go for commissioning programs but that would require me to reenlist and on the chances that I didn't get picked up, I would have had to fulfill my enlistment and get in schooling when I could. Again... i am Navy and the Army may be completely different. All of the HPSP and HSCP programs are very competitive and the quotas are constantly changing. I advise you to have a plan A,B, and C.
 
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Thanks for the info, and I plan on attaining my BS in or around AUG 2015... It seems as though I may be forced to use my GI bill while AD but I'm not sure if that's the best route either. When you start using your GI Bill isn't there a timeline that's you have to use it?
 
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Its something like 10 or so years from the time you begin using it
 
You could hope to be picked up for the commissioning program but if your not your going to have to wait around for the next cycle. Why are you forced to use the GI bill while AD? Why not TA or possible tuition waivers for AD/veterans?
 
The current FY14 TA policy only authorizes 16 credit hours or 4,500 (whichever comes first) per FY, which limits me to about 5 courses (3 credit hours per) and each class tuition cost cannot exceed about $900.00.

I've looked into National University, which you recommended, and I'm thinking about attending that school in order to take advantage of the accelerated courses, (to speed things up) and earn enough credits in order to transfer over to Fort Hays State College when I reach their minimum residency requirements; assuming that they have one. I'd rather attain a BS in psych, and they offer that in addition to pretty cheap class costs (>200.00 per credit).

Once I complete my tax return I'm going to also put in for the pell grant (FAFSA) and see if I can use that as a secondary means of paying for college, if/when I exceed the TA-16 credit hour annual limit....

Planning for success gets tricky when you're enlisted..!
 
MY experience with the pell grant was that i was over income while on AD. Its still worth a shot because I am sure our situations are different
 
I'm a spouse of active duty AF, so here's another opinion that might apply hahaha. We were not over income, and I received Pell grants for my undergrad, and didn't have to tap into the GI bill at all. However, I'm guessing that the difference is that we're not considered "over income" because there are more of us? I.e. hubby is married (to me har har) and we have a child, so more dependents than maybe you guys have? Don't want to assume. When we were first married we couldn't get doodley squat for federal assistance. Now that we are older and make more money, we get federal assistance. I know, you'd think that it'd work the opposite way.

I agree planning for success is hard when enlisted. Best of luck to both you gentlemen :)) Heck if we eventually did it, you can probably do it in half the time it took us. We are horrible at organization!
 
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