Spotlight on Business Administration
Written by Celeste Altus
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 (February)
From Living Room to Combat Zone
And the subject matter servicemembers are choosing is evolving. Along with the more common civilian career paths in law enforcement and computer science is a stronger interest in business degrees: whether certificates, two-year associate degrees, bachelor’s or MBAs.
Dr. Larry Barton, president and CEO of The American College, says he has seen a good many retired and active military personnel take advantage of the online courses his college offers to certify its students in financial planning, from designations to master’s degrees. Based in Bryn Mawr, Pa., the nonprofit college, born out of the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School of Economics, educates 30,000 students per year remotely. “We know the distance learning business very well,” Barton said.
LEARNING FROM AFAR
Some of The American College’s brightest students are those juggling multiple responsibilities, such as Major Eric Boettcher, an Army Reservist who has more than 22 years of military service. Boettcher, a married father who lives in the Northern California city of Brentwood, was sent to Mosul, Iraq in 2008 to help the local Iraqi government establish essential service reconstruction efforts.
While many of his fellow soldiers deployed in Iraq spent their free time engaging in various entertainment programs available to deployed servicemembers, Boettcher spent evenings locked away in his room.
Four hours a night, for ten and a half months straight, he hit the books. In less than two years, Boettcher is ready to graduate from The American College with five specific financial planning and insurance designations, such as the Chartered Life Underwriter, along with a master’s degree in financial services.
People are amazed at how he accomplished a successful tour, earning a second Bronze Star Medal while completing his studies, and often ask him how he did it, Boettcher said.
“A lot has to do with focus, discipline and staying the course,” he recognized. As long as he was thousands of miles away in the Middle East, separated from his family and the long days managing his insurance and investment practice, he said, he used what could have been idle time to pursue his educational goal. He said he did this to make him a better officer in the military and further his knowledge when dealing with his clients when he returned from combat duty.
His education will not only help his civilian financial services business, but may advance his military career as well, when he is eligible to be promoted to higher rank. With his master’s degree in the financial field and 12 years of running a business, future promotions in the military may lead him to work in economically developing nations while serving as a civil affairs officer positioned as an economic functions officer in support of the U.S. Army Pacific Command.
Boettcher also started a guest-speaking business to spread the word to high school students and others looking to achieve their educational goals while receiving educational benefits when serving in the military.
“The military is very supportive and wants its personnel to obtain higher education,” said Boettcher. “The American College bent over backwards to help me get all my exams graded in a timely manner, and all my books were sent over to ensure there was no lapse between courses. I finished 17 courses while I was deployed, from September 2008 to July 2009.”
Boettcher is among a new number of returning veterans to take advantage of scholarships and educational support to pursue a business degree while serving their nation.
“There is no way I would have been able to do what I did in Iraq here at home,” he said. “Soldiers have a phenomenal opportunity during off duty hours while in a combat zone to set the conditions to advance their military and civilian careers when they return from their multiple tours of duty.”
NATURAL LEADERS
There are a host of reasons that those with a military background are being sought by corporate America. It’s not just the focus, discipline and follow-through the candidates possess; they also make excellent employees because of their ability to work well in group settings. Their sense of organization and concentration inspires other workers and they lead by example.
“Business schools are interested in veterans because employees are interested in the leadership skills they have,” said Peter Johnson, executive director of admissions for the full time MBA program at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. “It’s a natural fit for business school.”
Business is a popular choice at Pennsylvania State University. The 62 military servicemembers and veterans currently enrolled in Penn State World Campus’ online Bachelor of Science in Business and Master of Business Administration represent 16.5 percent of total enrollment in these two programs, said Deborah Benedetti of Penn State’s outreach strategic communications and news department.
Twelve students are in the B.S. program and 50 are in the MBA program, as of the spring 2008-fall 2009 academic year. Numbers for the 2010 semesters were not yet available.
POPULAR TRACKS
Business degrees come in a range of disciplines, from leadership to accounting. Many universities with a large population of military or retired military students see that certain specialties attract veterans at a higher rate.
At Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, approximately one-sixth of the 21,000 students have a military connection. Its most popular business programs among military students are management and leadership, as well as human resource management, procurement and acquisitions management, security management, and space systems operation management.
Bryant & Stratton College in Wisconsin has three of its regional campuses named “military-friendly” schools. A full 30 percent of its enrolled veterans are pursuing business degrees, said Katy Rodriguez, the college’s financial aid director. The level varies by school as well. At Bryant & Stratton, “associate programs are by far the most popular, as 94 percent of our veterans are enrolled in those programs,” Rodriguez said, with the remaining 6 percent pursuing bachelor’s degrees.
BENEFITS OF DISTANCE
Regent University, near the naval base in Norfolk, Va., attracts a variety of military students because of its rich selection of online courses. “It is very appealing to them,” said Tracy Stewart, executive director of undergraduate studies at Regent.
“They have to move so much. We have students stationed overseas, and wherever they go, they can take Regent with them.” Many students at Regent start online but end up coming to campus for some classes in order to finish their degrees.
Bryant & Stratton students enjoy distance learning in different capacities. The college offers online courses for many of its programs to provide students greater flexibility with their class schedules.
“Our webinar conferences, discussion boards and virtual libraries are among the most popular tools with students taking advantage of this option,” said Rodriguez, financial aid director. “Even still, we’ve found that the majority of our students prefer on campus classes, when possible.”
A recent Bloomberg report showed that that according to Defense Department and military data, for-profit online colleges now make up 29 percent of college enrollments and a full 40 percent of federal tuition assistance for active-duty students.
The increase in popularity of online school is related to flexibility and around-the- year enrollment options, some say.
Another reason behind the increased enrollment comes is the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008, known as the “Post-9/11 GI Bill,” which became law in August of last year. The bill gives higher education benefits to military members who have served on active duty since September 11, 2001. It covers many kinds of educational expenses, including tuition, housing allowances and book stipends.
The Yellow Ribbon Program also allows veterans to enroll in private institutions, out-of-state universities, and graduate programs without paying tuition fees. Yellow Ribbon, a provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, allows institutions of higher learning (degree granting institutions) in the United States to voluntarily enter into an agreement with VA to fund tuition expenses that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition rate. The institution can contribute up to 50 percent of those expenses and VA will match the same amount as the institution.
CIVILIAN CAREERS
The kind of career a serviceman or woman develops with a business degree varies depending on his or her ultimate career goals. Many intend to stay in the military and align their studies with their current role in the service. Rob Drury is a retired officer from Texas who, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was an Air Force officer assigned as a Minuteman ICBM crewmember. He says one of the perks of the job was that tuition assistance for graduate programs was 100 percent funded.
“The most common programs were MBAs and aeronautical science degrees,” he recalled. “I started with the former then moved to the latter because the MBA too strongly resembled work, and being a pilot, I was more interested in aviation than business,” he said. Following graduation, he became an adjunct faculty member of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, serving as a research advisor forcolleagues still enrolled in the program.
Bryant & Stratton’s graduates had a 93 percent graduation placement rate last year, and the college makes sure to track its students’ places of employment so it can identify the types of jobs pursued after graduation. Among the most popular career paths for graduates there are jobs in financial planning, business management, information technology, human resources, payroll and benefits, technology management and accounting.
But Johnson, of the Berkeley MBA program, said there is no set career path veterans tend to choose. “In my experience at Berkeley, those in the MBA programs are looking at a variety of career directions, unlike engineering school. Military students specializing in real estate or finance have pretty broad interests. People who are coming from active duty tend to have broader horizons than the average student.”
FINDING A REPUTABLE COLLEGE
The Veterans’ Administration offers referrals to colleges and universities, but educators say veterans need to develop a sense of skepticism about degree programs and make sure colleges are thoroughly vetted before signing on, especially before signing on for any type of financial aid.
One distinction to make is in accreditation. A school may advertise that it is nationally accredited, but this is not the highest level of scrutiny. Barton, president of The American College, advises military to look for colleges and university that are regionally accredited and have a full-time faculty. Not all programs that are quick and easy are worth their cost, either, he said. Students should expect to invest years to earn a degree or certification, not a weekend at a hotel taking a couple of seminars.
There is a segment of the for-profit online education world that puts marketing ahead of quality programs, and tries to lure military students in to collect a portion of their available government funding. Shorter class lengths and fewer enrollment requirements can identify the lower quality schools.
“Some of these colleges are being run out of shopping centers,” said Barton. “Just because it says Palo Alto doesn’t mean it’s Stanford.” Barton said it behooves the VA to take a stronger role in excluding fly-by-night schools and diploma mills.
“The [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs] can help,” he says. “There are hundreds of superb institutions—it is time to call on the VA to come out with standards.” ✯