Notes From The Edge - Military Times Edge

The American Council on Education is gearing up to rock the Web on May 3-6 with Veteran Success Jam, an online “conversation” about the role that higher education can play in the successful reintegration of veterans.

ACE hopes to bring together thousands of participants — including service members, veterans and their families; representatives of colleges and universities, higher education associations; nonprofit organizations and the federal government — to discuss education issues affecting veterans, according to Jim Selbe, ACE’s assistant vice president for lifelong learning.

Topics for the Jam include:
* How the higher-education community addresses existing challenges in the areas of college access.
* Physical, mental and cultural barriers to veterans’ success in higher education.
* Model programs and services.

The purpose of the Jam, ACE says, is “to provide a forum where participants can discuss and identify challenges, develop and collaborate on innovative solutions and connect and engage as a higher education community.”

More information about the Jam will be posted at www.acenet.edu/STWS.

The clock is ticking on the April 30 application deadline for a Tillman Military Scholarship.

Awarded through the Pat Tillman Foundation, the scholarships honor the memory of the former NFL player who put his athletic career on hold to serve as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan.

All U.S. service members, including Guardsmen and reservists, are eligible to apply, as well as military spouses and dependent children under the age of 30. And, unlike many military scholarships, Tillman Military Scholarships may be used for distance and online learning.

The amount of the scholarship varies — past amounts have ranged from a few thousand dollars to more than $10,000 per person — and is determined in part by a recipient’s financial need. According to The Arizona Republic, the Tillman Foundation gave out $642,000 in scholarship funds last year. The foundation hopes to someday give away at least $3.6 million a year — the amount Tillman walked away from as a professional football player in order to enlist in the Army.

For a listing of other military-only scholarships, see my December 2009 story for EDGE.

With the June 15 deadline for schools to elect to participate in the new new GI Bill’s Yellow Ribbon Program right around the corner, it’s a good time for a quick review of this important part of the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

With the new GI Bill, the tuition and fees available generally is capped at the maximum in-state charges for undergrads at the most expensive public institution in a state. Higher-education institutions that participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program can contribute up to 50 percent of their school’s tuition expenses that exceed that amount, and the Veterans Affairs Department will match the same amount as the institution.

VA maintains a list of schools participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, which represents private colleges and universities, offers a brief instructional video on how to calculate your Yellow Ribbon Program contribution.

The official start to summer is right around the corner. For students beginning college in the fall, the coming months will be filled with many preparations.

If you are in uniform or have served, chances are good that you are at least a few years removed from your last classroom experience. You’re probably nervous about what to expect and anxious about what you need for college.

And if you’ve done a cursory amount of research, you also may be discouraged. A great deal of information exists about preparing for college. Too bad much of it exists for kids who are heading to school right after high school graduation.

Fortunately, there are several good resources on the Web for so-called “nontraditional students.” Perhaps the best of these is StudentsOver30.com, which bills itself as “the ultimate resource guide for nontraditional students” and, indeed, the site answers a lot of questions on everything from what to wear and how to get along with your younger classmates to what classes to take and what you can “do” after college with various majors.

The Non-Traditional Student site offers practical advice and links to nontraditional student groups around the nation. There’s even a Facebook group dedicated to nontraditional student support.

Finally, as always, if you don’t find the answers to your college questions online or in a book, ask someone at your school. You’ve all heard that there is no such thing as a dumb question. It’s cliche, but true.

CareerBuilder just released the results of its annual college job forecast, and, not surprisingly, job prospects aren’t as bright for this crop of recent and soon-to-be grads.

In fact, according to the popular online job site, the percentage of employers planning to hire recent college grads is roughly half of what it was just two years ago. Only 43 percent of employers plan to hire recent college graduates in 2009, down from 56 percent in 2008 and 79 percent in 2007.

I’ve already written about similarly dismal statistics from a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

If all this is enough make you seriously rethink your decision to leave the military and put your degree to use in a civilian career, don’t despair. In five years of reporting on education and career issues for transitioning service members, I’ve heard time and again the allure a job candidate’s military experience holds for employers.

It’s an edge that can benefit you greatly, if you present it correctly. To successfully sell yourself and your unique experience you’ll have to strike a careful balance between “demilitarizing” everything from your resume to your speech and even, somewhat, your demeanor (tone down the “Yes sir! No sir!”) and still managing to get across to hiring managers what it is about you and your time in uniform that makes you the perfect fit for the job.

For some helpful articles about launching a successful civilian job search, check out these stories on MSNBC.com, ResumeEdge.com, Bradley-Morris.com, and even this oldie but goodie by yours truly.

“Nontraditional student” typically has referred to anyone over a particular age (usually 24 or 25 years old) who has started — or returned to — college.

By that definition, many student veterans heading to the classroom after military service fit the bill of nontraditional student. And, like many a nontraditional students before them, so, too, do student veterans often feel out of place among their younger, seemingly more carefree student counterparts.

While traditional college students are fresh out of high school and seem to have no cares or concerns beyond just going to school, nontraditional students often are burdened with the additional stresses that come with having families, full-time jobs or both.

When you’re talking about a nontraditional student veteran, the differences become even more pronounced. More and more student veterans are heading to the classroom with physical or mental disabilities related to combat — disabilities that create further challenges to achieving success in college. Further, veterans can be thrown off by the comparative lack of structure found in the college environment, after a military career spent fulfilling specific missions in given timeframes.

Fortunately, more and more higher education institutions are providing services to help student veterans adjust to college. I wrote a story for the March issue of EDGE on managing the transition from combat to college. Check it out for tips from a number of experts in education and the military.

Also, be sure to check out these organizations and programs that are leading the way in providing help for veterans returning to the classroom:

Student Veterans of America

A coalition of student veterans organizations on college campuses across the United States, dedicated to advocating for student veterans and ensuring their success in higher education.

Mymilitaryeducation.org

A source of information about military and veteran educational questions for Minnesota veterans.

SERV

A program at Ohio’s Cleveland State University that is designed to assist military veterans with their transition from soldier to civilian to student.

Combat2College

A program of Maryland’s Montgomery College, designed to welcome home and provide academic opportunities and appropriate support services for veterans.

If college is in your near future, chances are you’re familiar with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. The FAFSA is the form you have to fill out to be eligible for most student financial aid.

Experts recommend filing as soon as possible after Jan. 1, since many colleges award aid on a first-come, first-served basis. There is some confusion as to whether one’s income tax forms have to be completed before submitting a FAFSA. According to student loan provider SallieMae, it’s OK to use estimates of your income.

Another common question surrounding the FAFSA is whether veterans’ education benefits affect requests for federal student financial aid.

Take the mystery out of the process by visiting this section of VA’s GI Bill Web site. In a nutshell, DO NOT include your VA education benefits on the income portion of the FAFSA. Doing so may reduce your need-based financial aid amount.

One final warning, this one from the Education Department: Be wary of any organization that wants to charge you for submitting your FAFSA or finding money for school.

Such information is almost always available for free, either from your school or the Education Department. Don’t be intimidated by the FAFSA. The Education Department has greatly simplified the process and provides a great walk-through.

Anyone in the midst of the search for a college undoubtedly has run across a little thing called “accreditation.” Very loosely translated, “accreditation” means “the process by which you can guarantee your degree is worth the paper it’s printed on.”

There is a lot of money to be made in the world of higher education, and, unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous people and institutions out there who are only too happy to take loads of your — and/or the government’s — cash, only to leave you with a fake degree.

When searching for a legitimate college or university, keep in mind that only the U.S. Department of Education and the private Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognize accrediting organizations. If your school claims to be accredited by an organization not recognized by the Education Department or CHEA, chances are it’s not legit.

CHEA maintains on its Web site databases of both recognized accrediting organizations and institutions/programs accredited by recognized U.S. accrediting organizations.

Read carefully. Diploma mills sometimes will try to trick would-be students by concocting a bogus accrediting organization very close in name to a legitimate one. So, for example, while the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities is the real deal, the Northwest Commission and Council on Colleges and Universities is not.

Check out CHEA’s Web site for everything you need to know about accreditation. And, when in doubt, consider this: Uncle Sam isn’t a fan of frauds, so if he’s willing to foot the bill for you to go to school somewhere, you can be sure he’s done his own homework to make sure the place is legit.

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