Profiting from the GI Bill

[laabstract]

I just thought this would be some pretty useful information to share with some of the veterans who are planning on using their GI Benefits or who are currently using them.

[todd2968]

really misleading

First off the va office looks for the school complying with their rules. The accrediting agencies look at whether the material covered or the education is adequate. All schools are for profit if they are not they should be. They compared a private university such as University of Phoenix to a community college, of course it is higher to get a degree, so are most private colleges. Are you looking into other universities to see if their degrees are helping to get people jobs? The 15 % pass rate is not a good stat but it must be looked at as how many just stop going to to school. As far as the veteran interviewed that was told 18 months to finish his degree so he could get his master did he have remedial classes? Did he not look at his degree plan? Why did he not know how many classes were required to finish his degree, that is on him.
Lastly all schools are for profit duhhhhh

[Snoopy47]

[Gawernator]

Profiting from the GI Bill

AMU is for profit, online, but it's still a legit school. I did 3 semesters at Los Medanos in the East Bay, transferred to AMU on deployment and they gave me credit for every class I took, plus used up all my electives from military schools and the JST. A HUMINT school I did also took a few classes out of my core section as well. Obviously they didn't give me credit for every single core class they could have since they do want me to take their classes but they were very fair about it. I was only sad that my AP psychology score of 4 didn't transfer because all my electives and social sciences requirements ended up filling up lol

AMU is online without being a "degree mill", or just hawking for GI Bill money. They do market for military but there's a good variety of people in the classes. The professors are legit and pretty good. You write and research a lot. I think Phoenix is probably more suspect...

Any military guys reading this, especially on deployment, AMU is a good way to go since they give good credit for military experience and are nationally and regionally accredited, so your degree could transfer anywhere.

I'm 21 now and in my third year of college, and I joined fresh out of HS at 18, so still on track for college and at this rate can probably finish a master's just on the GI Bill. Good luck

Edit: I already started on some core classes and have like 7-9 credits left in my General education, that way I could supplement with a brick and mortar college if needed and it would transfer (thinking BAH maybe)

Physical college is maybe more fun because of social interaction and I did score a year of dating a hot Mexican chick .. Truth!

[FML1982]

As some one who used TA with on-base colleges and going to colleges off base there is a night and day difference. The colleges on base are there to suck up the money, hell my wife and I just had a friend today, that uses on-base college, ask my wife to help her cite references because she doesn't know how. This wouldn't be an issue except she is graduating after one more class, how do you graduate college without knowing how to cite references for a paper? Even more aggravating is that there are website that literally do it for you, all you have to do is answer the questions they provide and the the citation pops up.

As for the gent using AMU, I personally have not used them, i do have friends that used the school. Any school will accept a lot of MCI's or military training for credit but most degrees will not use these for degrees, they will fill electives as you have found out. For myself, when I started school after EAS I found that all those electives can bite you in the butt if you are not careful. Once they are accepted for elective hours then they count toward total units taken which has an affect on student loans and pell grants since they look at total credits attempted/completed when considering things. You can file an appeal which will be accepted more than likely. AMU probably does have some decent programs but it will not be taken as serious as the brick and mortar schools and a lot of bigger companies will not take your application serious. From what I have been reading some companies are looking at ACT/SAT scores since the job market is so competitive now along with, if AMU is the best thing available then keep on with the school but I would highly suggest getting the degree from a better school.

[Gawernator]

As some one who used TA with on-base colleges and going to colleges off base there is a night and day difference. The colleges on base are there to suck up the money, hell my wife and I just had a friend today, that uses on-base college, ask my wife to help her cite references because she doesn't know how. This wouldn't be an issue except she is graduating after one more class, how do you graduate college without knowing how to cite references for a paper? Even more aggravating is that there are website that literally do it for you, all you have to do is answer the questions they provide and the the citation pops up.

As for the gent using AMU, I personally have not used them, i do have friends that used the school. Any school will accept a lot of MCI's or military training for credit but most degrees will not use these for degrees, they will fill electives as you have found out. For myself, when I started school after EAS I found that all those electives can bite you in the butt if you are not careful. Once they are accepted for elective hours then they count toward total units taken which has an affect on student loans and pell grants since they look at total credits attempted/completed when considering things. You can file an appeal which will be accepted more than likely. AMU probably does have some decent programs but it will not be taken as serious as the brick and mortar schools and a lot of bigger companies will not take your application serious. From what I have been reading some companies are looking at ACT/SAT scores since the job market is so competitive now along with, if AMU is the best thing available then keep on with the school but I would highly suggest getting the degree from a better school.

I knocked out 3-4 of the core classes thanks to AMU accepting a credentialing program from a school I did. My bachelor's will be in Intelligence Studies which is not really offered at the large majority of schools. It's a pretty awesome degree to have since I work in military intelligence. Most of the contractors/agencies only care that you have a degree, doesn't matter from what or where as long as you have the check in the box.

I'm sure it's a big deal in the "regular civilian" job market of course... I intend to get my master's at a CSU or UC

[Gawernator]

I knocked out 3-4 of the core classes thanks to AMU accepting a credentialing program from a school I did. My bachelor's will be in Intelligence Studies which is not really offered at the large majority of schools. It's a pretty awesome degree to have since I work in military intelligence. Most of the contractors/agencies only care that you have a degree, doesn't matter from what or where as long as you have the check in the box.

I'm sure it's a big deal in the "regular civilian" job market of course... I intend to get my master's at a CSU or UC

This year I would have qualified for a couple grand from the Pell Grant if I kept taking courses next semester, I qualified for some $100 tech grant but haven't seen that money lol. When I went to Los Medanos College I got the full $5,500 AND tuition reduction and money from the governor's board up to about $6,800. I only paid maybe $40 each semester. Talk about gaming the system...


Next year I'm pretty certain I won't qualify for Pell grant since I made "too much money" probably. Doesn't hurt to try I guess. I also used a few months of the Montgomery reserve GI bill, which I stopped for the last semester because I thought I might be running over to my post 9/11, which was untrue but now I know better. I have not even touched my full Post-9/11 GI Bill so perhaps I can finish off my fourth year and master's degree with that.

[todd2968]

Rudy

After watching the show Rudy it dawned on me many Universities will not take you even if you have the means to pay(GI BILL). A community college will but even low cost they are in a business to teach. When I went i found they(CC) tried to make me take speech. I was both a recruiter and an instructor so I knew one or both of those should count for a speech credit. What I found was they didn't look at military transcript if you severed they award you 2-3 classes computer literate and gym class. I had to go into the socnav agreement to spell it out for them. They are still figuring it out. Not worth their time.
Bottom line it is your responsibility to see if your end goal accepts the school you are going to. Does a BS in business make you marketable or are you nothing without a masters? I took online classes because it was the only school in my area which would teach me what i wanted. I need a certification to be recognized in my field and i verified it was a source school recognized by the certification committee.
How can you get a damn degree without doing your research first?