Class Notes
Recognizing the invaluable contributions made by U.S. military personnel, Ashford University has begun offering these dedicated men and women a helping hand in their pursuit of a college education.
Army National Guard members can now earn the Ashford University degree of their choice through the university’s Military Relations program. Benefits include a waiver of fees, fixed per-credit tuition rates and free textbooks.
“This program allows us to give back to the men and women who dutifully serve our country every day,” said KC Haight, Ashford University’s director of military relations and a former member of the armed forces. “It’s our way of showing our appreciation for their service.”
Ashford University is approved for the Military Tuition Assistance program and extends this tuition rate to all active duty military, National Guard members, reservists, military spouses, U.S. Department of Defense employees, and veterans and retirees utilizing the Montgomery GI Bill.
In addition, more than $1,000 in technology and applications fees are waived through the program, and military leaves of absence are available.
As part of the military relations program, Ashford University also provides a specialized team of advisers who assist military personnel with enrollment, academic and financial needs. These military liaisons work closely with the National Guard’s Education Support Center in Little Rock, Ark., to ensure that each student’s needs are met and to maximize credits from AARTS, SMART, CCAF and USCG training.
The military liaisons can even help secure college transcripts and arrange for academic tutoring.
“I would encourage anyone serving in the military who has thought about earning a college education to speak with one of our dedicated military enrollment advisers and explore what we have to offer,” Haight said.
VA Outlines Plans for New GI Bill Implementation
The Department of Veterans Affairs offered details on their implementation plans for the Post-9/11 GI Bill Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008. Keith Wilson, director of the Office of Education Service, unveiled their interim plan to meet the requirements of benefits delivery in the short term and long term.
According to Wilson, VA has begun improving the current information technology system internally in order to meet the August 2009 deadline, and he expects to keep this system in place until November 2010.
Wilson told Congress that the plan relies on increased automation and an expected increase in staffing of as much as 400 employees. The report indicates that VA will begin hiring in January and expects to be fully staffed by March 2009.
Wilson also detailed their long-term plan, expected to go into effect near the end of 2010. The long-term plan will rely on support from the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command to help develop a permanent rules-based automated system.
UMUC Classrooms Open in Iraq
University of Maryland University College (UMUC) has announced that it has faculty and staff on the ground in Iraq, offering undergraduate courses to servicemembers stationed there. More than 300 military personnel have already enrolled, studying at education centers at Camp Victory in Baghdad or at Joint Base Balad, some 40 miles to the north. The first classrooms opened in November, with two field representatives supporting six faculty members on the ground. UMUC will offer more courses and deploy additional faculty and staff as demand dictates.
“This is an honor and privilege for UMUC and an important advantage for our military students, who can enroll with confidence, knowing that we’ll be there for them no matter where they are called to serve,” said UMUC President Susan C. Aldridge. “It’s a commitment we take seriously, and our 60-year history of providing quality education to men and women in uniform—in more than 20 countries currently—stands as a testimony to our success. We are proud to be able to continue that tradition in Iraq.”
Each class enrolls up to 20 students, most in their twenties; subjects vary, from American Government and Introduction to Computer-Based Systems to Introduction to Psychology and Principles of Macroeconomics. (A full course list appears below.) Most courses are accelerated 4–6 week programs and meet daylong once per week, or three times a week for two and a half hours. For most servicemembers, Military Tuition Assistance covers the cost of the classes, and a new UMUC scholarship fund provides additional support by helping to subsidize the purchase of textbooks.
The Department of Defense granted UMUC the education contract in May 2008 that called for the university to provide undergraduate and select graduate programs on the ground to troops stationed in Iraq and other countries within the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Under an amendment to an earlier contract, UMUC was already teaching military students on the ground at several other CENTCOM sites.
How Effective Is Student Aid? Without More Research, It’s Impossible to Know
With the goal of expanding student aid research and policy analysis, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) launched its fundraising campaign for the Dallas Martin Endowment. The endowment was created to further NASFAA’s mission by advancing research and best practices in public policy and student aid, as well as to grow the next generation of leaders in the student aid arena.
The endowment’s namesake, Dr. Dallas Martin Jr., worked tirelessly on Capitol Hill as an advocate for student aid before retiring as NASFAA president in 2007.
“Dallas dedicated his career to helping students achieve their higher education goals,” said NASFAA President and CEO Dr. Philip R. Day. “His was the constant voice of reason when legislation and regulations endangered equity in student aid.”
During more than three decades with NASFAA, Martin united the higher education community around NASFAA’s goals to increase access to higher education.
“But we are still a long way off from achieving those goals,” said David Gruen, director of financial aid at the University of Wyoming and the 2008 NASFAA national chair. “Unfortunately, lack of funding still prevents many low-income students from attending or completing their degrees. More must be done.”
Finding the best ways to achieve those goals is the primary purpose of the Dallas Martin Endowment. Endowment funds will be used to sponsor at least two, semester-length internships for upper-division undergraduate or graduate students who have an interest in student aid with a particular focus on policy analysis and/or research. The work of these interns will contribute significantly to the knowledge base and advocacy efforts of the financial aid community.
The funds will also be used to create an Information Resource Center and Library on Public Policy and Student Aid—the first of its kind in the United States.
ACE Launches Serving Those Who Serve Initiative
The American Council on Education (ACE) launched Serving Those Who Serve: Higher Education and America’s Veterans, a broad-based initiative designed to promote access to and success in higher education for more than two million servicemembers and their families who are eligible for newly expanded benefits under the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008.
Serving Those Who Serve is a multiyear effort designed to effect major changes in how veterans learn about their education benefits and postsecondary options and how institutional leaders can build capacity to serve veterans on their campuses. The agenda will include competitive grants to veteran-friendly institutions, a college planning Website and outreach campaign to inform veterans about accessing and utilizing their education benefits, research-based publications and regional meetings to ease implementation of the new GI Bill benefits.
Initiative Goals
ACE’s efforts to help veterans transition to higher education reach back to World War I. From the evaluation of military courses and occupations for academic credit, to support for the severely injured in their transition from soldier to student, ACE has implemented programs and services to reduce the many obstacles that veterans face as they attempt to begin or resume postsecondary education.
As the August 2009 deadline for implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill approaches, ACE will build on this history with a major effort to remove barriers veterans face in seeking and completing their postsecondary education.
The goals of the Serving Those Who Serve initiative are to better understand the factors that affect veterans’ decisions about pursuing higher education; to identify institutions that are helping veterans succeed academically and socially and to spread these promising practices to other campuses; to compile reliable demographic information about the veteran population; and to assist colleges and universities in navigating the process of administering those benefits.
“The higher education community is in the unique position to help ease the transition from soldier to student,” said ACE President Molly Corbett Broad. “However, we must do so in a deliberate way to ensure that returning soldiers who are eager to take advantage of expanded education benefits for themselves and their families are offered every opportunity for success.” ♦
* Compiled by KMI Media Group staff