What are Military-Friendly Colleges?
Over 10,000 colleges and universities offer programs and tuition benefits for active-duty, military spouse, dependents, and veterans across United States of America. Find more about military friendly institutions and the programs that they offer.
“A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterward."- Theodore Roosevelt. It would be a proud feeling to serve and protect the Nation.
Are you an active-duty service member or a veteran looking for a great education? But isn’t it important to know what these colleges are meant for and the benefits you gain from these institutes?
Thus, to make it easy for you to understand, here is an article to give you details of what is a military-friendly college and other necessary details regarding it.
Table of contents
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How to Recognize or Identify if your College is Military Friendly?
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What is the 9/11 GI bill and what is the impact of the bill?
What are the Military-Friendly Colleges?
These are the colleges for active-duty, veterans, military spouses, and dependents. As per the data, the US military is one of the largest armed forces in the world. Service of over 43 million men and women has been reported in the US military since the American Revolution.
The recent reports show that there are also 21.8 military veterans in the United States. Reports have shown that almost 9,00,000 military professionals have used their military benefits for the education cause from 2000-2012.
There are many online schools and colleges that provide military-friendly education. The flexibility of online learning makes it ideal for military personnel and their families. The online colleges for military members offer incentives and benefits that make studying easier and more affordable.
Here are a few important points about these military-friendly colleges.
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Military Assistance is offered by most colleges by participation in government tuition assistance, that provides strong military communities, along with support for military-affiliated distance students.
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Several programs and initiatives have been launched by the federal government to help the veterans and active-duty military personnel.
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The highest rate of benefit-usage was seen after the 9/11 GI Bill. The Yellow Ribbon Program, a provision of the 9/11 Bill has been used by those members in the 9/11 list, to fund their out-of-pocket college expenses.
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More than just government-funded programs, a military-friendly school aims to offer military training, special financial assistance, military discounts, and many more.
How to Recognize or Identify if your College is Military Friendly?
In order to find out or to identify if your college or university qualifies to be military friendly, there are certain important conditions to be met which are as mentioned below.
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Find out if the institution has a dedicated veteran representative, to cater to the admission and other needs of the veterans. Most schools do not give the proper attention that the veterans are supposed to receive.
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A network structure of military-friendly-offices has to be established across various departments of an institution and has to be centrally administered.
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Check out for veteran service organizations such as Service Member Opportunity Colleges within the institution. These types of organizations help in improving educational opportunities for servicemembers across the world.
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Find out if the school accepts military credits and also evaluates ART, SMART, and CCAF transcripts.
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Being a part of a student veteran organization can help in many different ways.
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The easiest way to ensure if a campus is military-friendly is to ask if the application fee is waived for military and veteran students. If even this initial aid is not granted, then the other military support programs cannot be expected.
University orientation for Military Personnel
Most military-friendly colleges and universities offer orientation programs that are ice-breaking sessions for the Military Personnel at the university. A brief review of the functioning of the colleges, along with the course structure, military personnel service program, and more are provided.
The veterans also get an orientation about GI Bill Benefits, health care, insurance, and loan programs.
There are several outside programs that offer help to active service members, armed forces veterans, and, members of Reserves or National Guard.
Moreover, there are service desks at the university that helps in applying for educational benefits offered for the Veterans.
What is the 9/11 GI bill and what is the impact of the bill?
The GI Bill has created several offers for military students which are sometimes not identified and hence wasted. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the provision of the Bill under which you fall, depending upon conditions such as your service period, begin and end periods, and more.
Spouses and children can also use the benefits of the service member. Truly military-friendly colleges will help you increase your military benefits.
You can receive up to 36 months of benefits with the impact of 9/11 GI Bill, including:
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Tuition and fees.
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Money for housing (if you’re in school more than half time).
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Money for books and supplies. You can receive up to $1,000 per school year.
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Money to help you move from a rural area to go to school.
What is the Need for Veteran Care?
There are several reasons why veterans should be helped both financially and non-financially. There are several reasons that make a veteran student stand out from the rest of the crowd. They are as given below.
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Typically a veteran student is older than his peers.
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Most veterans need to support their families even while studying.
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Once they have left the military service most veterans face a reduced income.
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For veterans, the classroom experience would be difficult at first, as it takes time to get accustomed to long-lectures after not having it for so many years.
Veteran benefits available in colleges
A few of the Veteran Benefits available across various colleges are as given below.
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Basic Allowance for Housing - BAH is a provision to receive a monthly housing allowance. $745.50 is the average BAH rate for veterans.
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The Student Veteran Association helps in creating a network of veterans and provides them with the platform to raise their issues.
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Availability of full-time Veteran Counselor – A full-time veteran counselor helps in offering help to face a variety of student veteran issues. They help in counseling, mentoring, tutoring, and instruction.
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The offering of ROTC Program – An ROTC Program is offered at various colleges to provide students opportunities to learn to serve the US Military.
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College Credits are offered for courses if the students have served in the military.
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Awards are credited to veterans for passing the CLEP and DSST exams. These awards can help them to land in higher education courses thus saving their time and money.
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The
Yellow Ribbon Program, Military Scholarships and, Reduced Tuition are other benefits that the student receives.
Military friendly colleges
Here is a list of top 10 military-friendly colleges:-
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University of Michigan
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Georgia Institute of Technology
Here is a list of top 10 online military-friendly colleges:-
Conclusion
There are umpteen numbers of colleges that offer military benefits. Find out the present and past students of the university, about the rate at which the military-friendly programs are offered in the University. Choose a college wisely. Never fall prey to false promises. After all, it is the military spirit that drives you to attain better goals.
You may like to read about: Scholarships for military dependents
