Obstacles service members face when attempting to complete a degree while still protecting our country.

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1 Obstacles service members face when attempting to complete a degree while still protecting our country. Presented by: Dana Rocha University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

2 To describe many of the obstacles that service members have to overcome and work around when attempting to complete their degree while simultaneously serving our country.

3 Colorado Springs Military Population Fort Carson (20,193) Peterson Air Force Base (6,314) Schriever Air Force Base (2,235) Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD) (731) Air Force Academy (6,462) **Colorado 5th Largest Retirement State in the Nation

4 Tuition Assistance: A benefit for Active Duty and Reservist while serving in the Armed Forces.-Top 3 Tuition up to $4, a year and $ per semester hour Post 9-11 GI-Bill

5 CAUCASIAN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISPANIC ASIAN NATIVE AMERICAN HAWAIIAN OTHER UNKNOWN ASSOCIATE' S BACHELOR'S MASTER'S CERTIFICATE S GoArmyEd Statistics for the Last 3 yrs. (Army Wide) By Rank E4-E7: 75% of Tuition Assistance (TA) Users Degrees Attempted Using TA Associate s: 96,106 Bachelor s: 47,600 Master s: 11,024 Certificates: 3,340 Age/Sex Average age: 32.7 yrs Male: 78.5% of TA users Female: 21.5% of TA users Ethnicity of TA users Caucasian: 43.2% African American: 26.4% Hispanic: 13.5% Asian: 2.2% Native American: 1.4% Hawaiian: 1.3% Other: 4.7% Unknown: 4.3% 43.2% % % MALE % FEMALE 13.5% 2.2% 1.4% 1.3% 4.7% 7.3%

6 BY RANK (ENLISTED) E1-E4: 44% E5:26% E6: 17% E7: 10% E8-E9: 3% Highest Level of Education for Enlisted Below High School: 0% HS/GED: 4% 12+ SH college: 70% Associate s: 19% BA/BS: 6% MA/BMS: 1% BY RANK (OFFICER) O1-O2: 21% O3: 35% O4: 21% O5: 16% O6: 6% O7 and above: 1% Highest Level of Education for Officers BA/BS: 44% MA/BMS: 41% PHD/ Prof. Degree: 11% Unknown: 4%

7 The Navy College Program Marine Corps SNCO Degree Completion Program Air University Associate-To-Baccalaureate Cooperative Program SOC

8 Servicemembers Opportunity College SOC functions in cooperation with 15 higher education associations, the Department of Defense, and Active and Reserve Components of the Military Services Approximately 1,800 appropriately accredited colleges and universities providing associate, bachelor s and master s degrees for servicemembers and their adult dependent family members

9 Community College of the Air Force Partnered with over 90 affiliated Air Force schools, 82 Education Service Offices located worldwide, and more than 1,500 civilian academic institutions to serve more than 320,000 active, guard, and reserve enlisted personnel

10 AARTS is a computerized transcript system that produces transcripts for eligible Soldiers and Veterans Helps college officials to award credit for learning experiences the Soldier/Veteran gained while in the military.

11 Education is highly valued by Veterans and current members of the military alike. Today s tough job market- military members retire in a specialized field and start over in civilian life. Wounded Warrior Program

12 Time conflicts Social interaction/ transitioning issues Location and relocation Transference of previous college courses and accreditation for military training and course timeline Deployments Post-deployment health Work load

13 In many cases traditional classes and hours do not fit with soldiers schedules: Receipt of tasks or details on very short notice Increased number of deployments Work hours exceed school hours Family

14 PTSD Injuries Disabled Veterans Family Members who have lost loved ones TBI These are a few of the health issues that the military community may have and with that comes the accommodation for those issues

15 Soldiers that do attempt to attend college on campus have had problems interacting with non-military affiliated classmates and staff With many soldiers enlisting straight out of high school, the leap back into the academic world can be a shock Some military students may feel as though the staff does not have the ability to assist them with their specialized needs Integrating civilian academics into military may be a struggle

16 Relocation Military students are unique in the fact that their locations are not stable Those serving are expected to relocate to places in which they may have limited access to school (Korea, Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) Relocation may cause a service member to avoid school Transference of Credits Starting and getting to a finishing point: Courses they thought they had won t transfer Difficulty getting transcripts together Service members may then resist because they do not wish to repeat courses Military Training: Many schools offer credit for various military occupations and training programs Relocation and transferring to a different school can result in loss of credits previously accepted. Some military students may feel as though the school does not appreciate the work they have done in the military

17 With relocation and issues with credit transfer, many soldiers experience a time when it seems as though the degree may never come DANTES E ARMY-U SOC AD AUA to BCP

18 Service members already stretch themselves thin with their service obligations Adding school can take them away from their families longer Time seems a luxury for military students Homework may become and issue with lack of time to complete it Stress levels likely to increase as work load does which can cause Burn-out

19 In spite of all the obstacles like: Time conflicts Relocation Social relations Health issues There are more than 1100 students that pursue degrees at UCCS. UCCS is one of the top-ten military friendly schools in the United States.

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