Educational benefits for military families

When it comes to education, the military ensures that it offers all, if you are an active, reserve or National Guard service member, your spouse and family members will get a variety of education benefits. These discounts are applicable if you are serving in uniform or are a retired-veteran.

The various education benefit options include:

• College Loan Repayment Program (CLRP)
• Tuition Assistance
• Tuition Assistance Top-Up
• New GI Bill
• Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty (MGIB-AD)
• Montgomery GI Bill – Selected Reserves (MGIB-SR)

Tuition fee discounts enjoyed by military families

• Active military members can avail one low flat tuition rate for all educational programs which can be up to about 45%
• Retired veterans can get a discount of about $1,000 to $2,000 per year under the Yellow Ribbon GI benefits
• Spouses of active duty military members can get a tuition fee discount of 25%.

Benefits of Education and Tuition Assistance Programs

Though each form of service offers its own education benefits which are quite similar to each other, the army offers comprehensive education and tuition assistance programs. This is dependent on three basic factors like:

• Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) helps in paying 100% of the tuition fees if you are an active duty soldier with, up to $250 per credit hour. As part of the Army Continuing Education program, you can use the TAP amount to pay for classes which you can also use for advancements in the education.
• College Loan Repayment Program (CLRP). This is applicable if you have existing student loans while joining the Army you can clear it with CLRP instead of signing up for the GI Bill. You can get around $65,000 of your college loans in return for a three-year active duty enlistment.
• Dependent Children Scholarships includes the MG James Ursano Scholarship Program established by the Army Relief Fund (AER) offered for dependent children attending college.

The frequent movement and relocation of the family members can make it quite difficult for family members to complete college and higher education. Owing to this, the Army offers a set of educational programs which makes enrolling to a course and pay for the existing education loans quite easy.

Online education can definitely beat classroom study but it will depend on number of factors. It includes accreditation, syllabus quality, scope of practical training and your daily schedule.

Accreditation

Accreditation is the most important factor when it comes to online education. Your online degree is only going to be useful when you earn it from an online university which is accredited by the US Department of Education. When studying through classroom setup, you do not need to worry about the accreditation as most of the colleges are accredited. Same cannot be said about the online colleges and universities especially with so many of them operating with only one objective in mind, to earn money from their students.

Syllabus Quality

The quality of syllabus will have a huge impact on your career prospect. In an online environment where chances of interaction with your faculty are pretty limited, you would like to learn more things so that it can help you in your career. Online education beats classroom study in syllabus quality because unlike traditional schools and universities, online universities update syllabus on a regular basis so that students do not miss any important concepts. Another good thing about online education is that syllabus is designed by the industry experts that have a thorough knowledge of their area of expertise.

Scope of Practical Training

Online education is definitely much better than classroom study in terms of offering practical training to their students. When studying through classroom setup, you will find that all the focus is on the theoretical concepts and there is not much scope of practical training. Situation is completely different in an online environment where all the emphasis is being put on practical training. In this day and age when competition is intense in every field, you will require right kind of practical training in order to succeed. If you are not able to implement theoretical concepts into practice, your theoretical knowledge is of no use. Employers these days prefer giving jobs to individuals that have received practical training from an accredited university.

Daily Schedule

For working professionals that are looking to increase their academic qualification, online education is a much better option in comparison to classroom study. When you opt for online education, you can study at your own pace. This is not possible in a classroom study where everything is done on time. Location is not much of an issue in online education as you can study from any location you want. To do this, all you need is a laptop with good internet connection. Online education not only gives you an opportunity to increase your academic qualification but also your work experience. This is going to play a significant part in your career advancement.

Tuition Fee

In comparison to classroom study, tuition fee of online education is quite low. It means that you can easily afford it without taking any student loan. Grants and scholarships are also available for students that are studying in an accredited online university.