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I wanted to put this out there to help others with similar aspirations make the most of their Education benefits.
If you can enter a MD, DO, DDS, etc. program with all your benefits intact, you will put each month to good use, as the annual max now is around $23k, not including Housing payments. If you can find a school that participates in the YELLOW RIBBON program, as I did, that annual max jumps to around $43k. Think about this, that’s $172,000 in tuition costs that you do NOT have to pay back.
I’m a prior 18D, with a BS in Emergency Med. Care from Western Carolina University, currently MS2 at a DO school. In 2011, I enrolled at WCU (online), with 70 credits granted by experience. I did not have a very good plan, nor a firm understanding of the differences between the various education programs offered by the various services within the DoD, and the VA.
Fortunately, after many mistakes, a few budget cuts (sequestration) and some trial and error, I was able to complete my degree, without using my Ch33 GI Bill. Here are a few tips for those who may want to do the same.
Use your Federal (and State) Tuition Assistance. Each Service is different, but the Army uses GoArmyEd, and many National Guard States have their own State tuition assistance, which you can use in addition to the federal. The current Cap for FTA is $4000 a year, or 17 credit hours, whichever is cheaper. You have to create your own degree plan through the site and make sure you have enrolled through the site 60 days in advance (before the start of classes.) A huge fine print detail for FTA is that it only covers TUITION. No fees are paid, so the ideal school would list all the costs as tuition.
Once I knew I intended to apply to Medical Schools after graduating, I had to find a way to take my Science Pre-Req’s in a classroom, not DL as I did with other non-science classes. The best way to approach this is to:
1. Contact your registrar or program director from the degree granting school.
2. Tell them you will be taking an equivalent class and desire credit towards your degree.
3. Give them a copy of the class description (#credits, etc.).
4. Enroll in the local class, once complete send your transcript to the registrar so they can award transfer credit.
I used this strategy to complete Physics, Bio, Chem, Organic Chem, even English, and Public Speaking. Since I took these classes at a community college, the charges for tuition were only about $85/credit, so it pays to shop around. One class I had no choice but to take online was Biochemistry, so I enrolled in an online class at University of New England, which has a huge assortment of classes to choose from. The best part about is was that they charge $250 per credit hour, but it’s listed as TUITION on their invoice, so it was 100% covered by FTA, with no out of pocket fees. You have 6 months to complete at your own pace. Once I had graduated, I had transcripts from 5 different Colleges, but in the end, it’s all the same to Admissions Committees.
So that’s it. If you can afford $2k a year in tuition, don’t mind taking classes at night and on the weekends, and aren’t worried about taking a bit longer to finish, this will work. Work closely with your Education Office, or do the research to find schools that will award the most credits from your military experience. Shop around for an inexpensive local community college that offers the classes you need. Finally, make sure you build RAPPORT with all the people you work with. There will be issues. I can’t tell you how many favors, manual overrides or phone calls people made on my behalf, because I treated them with respect and showed my appreciation for their time.
I’m happy to help out, if possible, but I encourage you to do your research. It’s been a few years, so some specifics may be out of date. A good start is by googling “SOCAD agreement Colleges.” Also, don’t regularly visit this forum, so if you PM me, be patient.
Some final tips are:
1. Use the phone. You’ll get a better response than email. Email < phone.
2. Be polite to everyone. Even if they seem incompetent. Don’t burn bridges for those that come behind you.
3. Be patient. It took FOREVER for my credits from the SFQC to transfer correctly. At times, I wanted to yell at SWTG S3, but on the outside I only showed appreciation.
4. Keep every single document ever, from everyone. On digits. Organized. Enough said.
5. Be flexible, and if you’re TDY/OCONUS, bring your printer and do your work when able.
6. Get to know GoArmyEd inside and out. It’s confusing, and you may be able to show the education officer a thing or 2 to get you enrolled on time.
Good luck.
If you can enter a MD, DO, DDS, etc. program with all your benefits intact, you will put each month to good use, as the annual max now is around $23k, not including Housing payments. If you can find a school that participates in the YELLOW RIBBON program, as I did, that annual max jumps to around $43k. Think about this, that’s $172,000 in tuition costs that you do NOT have to pay back.
I’m a prior 18D, with a BS in Emergency Med. Care from Western Carolina University, currently MS2 at a DO school. In 2011, I enrolled at WCU (online), with 70 credits granted by experience. I did not have a very good plan, nor a firm understanding of the differences between the various education programs offered by the various services within the DoD, and the VA.
Fortunately, after many mistakes, a few budget cuts (sequestration) and some trial and error, I was able to complete my degree, without using my Ch33 GI Bill. Here are a few tips for those who may want to do the same.
Use your Federal (and State) Tuition Assistance. Each Service is different, but the Army uses GoArmyEd, and many National Guard States have their own State tuition assistance, which you can use in addition to the federal. The current Cap for FTA is $4000 a year, or 17 credit hours, whichever is cheaper. You have to create your own degree plan through the site and make sure you have enrolled through the site 60 days in advance (before the start of classes.) A huge fine print detail for FTA is that it only covers TUITION. No fees are paid, so the ideal school would list all the costs as tuition.
Once I knew I intended to apply to Medical Schools after graduating, I had to find a way to take my Science Pre-Req’s in a classroom, not DL as I did with other non-science classes. The best way to approach this is to:
1. Contact your registrar or program director from the degree granting school.
2. Tell them you will be taking an equivalent class and desire credit towards your degree.
3. Give them a copy of the class description (#credits, etc.).
4. Enroll in the local class, once complete send your transcript to the registrar so they can award transfer credit.
I used this strategy to complete Physics, Bio, Chem, Organic Chem, even English, and Public Speaking. Since I took these classes at a community college, the charges for tuition were only about $85/credit, so it pays to shop around. One class I had no choice but to take online was Biochemistry, so I enrolled in an online class at University of New England, which has a huge assortment of classes to choose from. The best part about is was that they charge $250 per credit hour, but it’s listed as TUITION on their invoice, so it was 100% covered by FTA, with no out of pocket fees. You have 6 months to complete at your own pace. Once I had graduated, I had transcripts from 5 different Colleges, but in the end, it’s all the same to Admissions Committees.
So that’s it. If you can afford $2k a year in tuition, don’t mind taking classes at night and on the weekends, and aren’t worried about taking a bit longer to finish, this will work. Work closely with your Education Office, or do the research to find schools that will award the most credits from your military experience. Shop around for an inexpensive local community college that offers the classes you need. Finally, make sure you build RAPPORT with all the people you work with. There will be issues. I can’t tell you how many favors, manual overrides or phone calls people made on my behalf, because I treated them with respect and showed my appreciation for their time.
I’m happy to help out, if possible, but I encourage you to do your research. It’s been a few years, so some specifics may be out of date. A good start is by googling “SOCAD agreement Colleges.” Also, don’t regularly visit this forum, so if you PM me, be patient.
Some final tips are:
1. Use the phone. You’ll get a better response than email. Email < phone.
2. Be polite to everyone. Even if they seem incompetent. Don’t burn bridges for those that come behind you.
3. Be patient. It took FOREVER for my credits from the SFQC to transfer correctly. At times, I wanted to yell at SWTG S3, but on the outside I only showed appreciation.
4. Keep every single document ever, from everyone. On digits. Organized. Enough said.
5. Be flexible, and if you’re TDY/OCONUS, bring your printer and do your work when able.
6. Get to know GoArmyEd inside and out. It’s confusing, and you may be able to show the education officer a thing or 2 to get you enrolled on time.
Good luck.
