Is it difficult to earn a degree while being active duty? How soon could I start school after AIT?

Ashley Nicole — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 06:46:05 -0500

I was wondering if it is difficult to earn a degree while being active duty? How soon could I start school after AIT? I have about 37 credits under my belt from a community college but not college degree. I wanted to use the assistance to my advantage while serving and get a degree (preferably bachelors). Does it have to be related to my MOS or can I treat it like I would as a civilian? Biggest mistake people make while trying to attend and serve? Just wanting some advice so I don’t screw myself over or make it more difficult than it needs to be.

Response by LtCol Robert Quinter made Jan 3 at 2020 7:03 AM

LtCol Robert Quinter — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 07:03:54 -0500

I earned my degree while on active duty. I would recommend you get settled in your permanent unit prior to starting, you must ensure that your school requirements are compatible with tour duty requirements, i.e. if your unit is deploying, or in work up for deployment it may not be wise to commit to a degree program.
It's like everything else, your military responsibilities must have priority, but by coordinating with your unit and the school it can be done,

Response by SFC Casey O'Mally made Jan 3 at 2020 8:19 AM

SFC Casey O'Mally — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 08:19:20 -0500

It can absolutely be done. It will obviously take longer than if you were going to school full time. You get tuition assistance one year after completion of AIT (meaning Army pays for your classes). But you can take CLEP tests (and get CLEP study material) for free as soon as you get to duty station.

You can pursue whatever degree you want, there are no limitations. However note that a degree that nests with your MOS may be quicker and easier because you may be able to apply military training and experience to some of those credits.

Mission comes first, though. I highly recommend doing one course at a time. Most posts are affiliated with a local U and will have accelerated 6-8 week courses. If you do those one at a time, but do it year round, you can knock out a semester (15 - 18 credits) a year. Again, not as fast as a full time student, but half speed for free while holding down a full time job ain't bad. At that rate, with the credits you already have, you can probably have a BS in about 6 years or so.

WAY BA k, there used to be Commander's initiative for a "college drop" as part of re-enlistment, where you would go to school full-time for a semester. Usially still had to do PT and things like urinalysis or PAI, but other than that, your duty location was college. Don't know if that is still an option, but if it is, that could also speed you up.

Depending on your unit, their OPTEMPO, deployment phase, training schedule, etc. You may be able to do more or less. But start with one at a time and see how it goes.

The two biggest mistakes I saw were kids going too fast or too slow. Either they were jumping in and trying to do too much and spreading themselves too thin (both school AND work suffer). Or they were putting school again and again because they were "too busy" with the Army. (I was the latter - I didn't get serious about college until I had been in for 16 years.) Slow and steady wins the race, here. One at a time, but ALWAYS (or almost always) be taking a class.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Jan 3 at 2020 9:38 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 09:38:03 -0500

Difficult, but not impossible. It took me about 4 years of intermittent classes to earn my Associates, but then about 5 years to earn my bachelors. having said that, they were 100% paid for by TA.

Response by PO1 Don Gulizia made Jan 3 at 2020 10:20 AM

PO1 Don Gulizia — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 10:20:35 -0500

Like almost every answer I give...it depends. Where are you stationed? What colleges are near by or on base? What degree/academic area are you working toward and is it offered near by or online? What is your work schedule? Will your command accommodate? Bottom line is that it can be done. In some cases, easy...no problem...in others, very difficult. I earned a BA while active. It took me a long time, but I started with zero college credits, was married, had children, and was active in their lives...plus worked full time/extra time (depending on the duty station). It can be done. Good luck.

Response by SPC Erich Guenther made Jan 3 at 2020 10:22 AM

SPC Erich Guenther — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 10:22:28 -0500

Well your first job after AIT Is learning your MOS and that should have priority over any college. If not your going to really piss off your chain of command. If you can do both more power to you. However, yes it is possible to study towards a degree. Even saw Infantrymen make time to get college class work done while with the 101st.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 3 at 2020 10:31 AM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 10:31:14 -0500

It is difficult but probably not much more difficult than getting a degree while holding a full time job as a civilian working full time. The military helps a lot with the cost. On thing to consider is that you might be transferred (perhaps several times) during the process. Be sure to pick a school(s) whose credits will transfer. Note. I entered the service with no college credits and earned my engineering degree while on active duty. It took me a little more than 6 1/2 years. Good luck in your pursuit.

Response by MSgt Michael Smith made Jan 3 at 2020 10:53 AM

MSgt Michael Smith — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 10:53:43 -0500

I got my degree (undergrad) while I was active duty. You just have to put in the work. Be prepared to go to class a couple of nights a week. Also, I don't know the policies now, but when I was in the AF, my boss made me concentrate on my specialty training before I could go to school. So after my Tech School I immediately wanted to start college. I was so mad when my boss told me I needed to get my 5 skill level completed before he would okay it. Looking back later I totally agree with what he did. Straight out of AIT you need to be working hard on taking the skills you learned there and putting them to use/improving them. It took me like a year, I passed my 5-level certification, then I started school. As I said, I'm not sure the Army works the same way. Good Luck.

Response by CPL Gary Pifer made Jan 3 at 2020 12:41 PM

CPL Gary Pifer — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 12:41:51 -0500

Don't waste your GI bill while you're still in and don't transfer it to others...

Response by CPL Gary Pifer made Jan 3 at 2020 12:44 PM

CPL Gary Pifer — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 12:44:00 -0500

PS.. hanging out in the Enlisted Club afterwork is much more fulfilling.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 3 at 2020 1:11 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 13:11:44 -0500

Difficult is irrelevant, you'll either make it a priority, or you won't. The Army, and college, has made it easier than ever to attain a legitimate, regionally accredited degree these days. Back when I first joined you had to go to night school at the education center and on the weekends. If you were in a unit like I was, you were gone too much to attend. Plus, you had to pay up front and get reimbursed and TA only covered 75% of tuition costs.
Now, the Army has a simple online portal. You find a college, the education counselor loads your degree plan. An online planner pops up showing you what courses will meet your degree requirements. You click a few buttons and you're enrolled. As for taking classes, we now have classroom, hybrid where you take some of it in class, and some online. There are online classes where you sit and watch a lecture. There are ones that are completely self paced. There are ones where the entire course is on a thumb drive and you complete the work and mail it back, all completely offline. In the Army today, if you have time to watch TV or play video games, you have time for class.

How long should you wait? I would say about a year or less after getting to your first duty station. Long enough to know a little about your job. You'll never really know your whole job. As soon as you do, you'll get promoted or moved and have to learn that job.
You can pick any college, for the most part. Definitely pick a regionally accredited college. Your education counselor will almost always steer you towards one of the colleges on your post. I suggest Coastline Community College for your associates and then transferring to a bachelor program after that. There are multiple reasons why this is a better choice for you, but that's another conversation. In the end, it really doesn't matter what associates program you pick because they are all low level classes and most of them are general education and electives. CCC will also give you up to 40 Semester Hours of military credit in your degree program. That's two thirds of your degree.

Biggest mistakes-
1. Waiting till you get out of the Army to go to college on the GI Bill. Thinking it will be easier when not on active duty. Thinking the GI Bill housing stipend will provide enough money not to need a job.
2. Waiting too long to begin. Most people wait until they are trying to earn promotion points or become a Senior NCO to earn their degree. Either they are trying to make more points and get ahead of their peers for promotion, or they are close to retirement and want their degree completed before then.
3. Being enrolled in a degree program but not taking a course because of upcoming training events. As I said before, you can be completely offline and take a course. There are plenty of training events that last a month where you will be really busy, then have hours of down time just waiting. Even if you don't, you can request a course extension. If you wait until the training calendar is clear, or you're not already busy, you're going to lose a lot of good opportunities for courses.
4. Waiting for any sort of "right time". There will literally never be a right time. Especially once you have dependents, there is no extra time. You just have to make it more important than the other things in your life like going out on the weekends or entertainment. People find time in their busy lives for church every Sunday because they make spiritual development a priority. Self development is equally important.
5. Letting TA go unused. You get a limited amount of TA a year and that pot resets every fiscal year. If you don't use it by the end of the day on September 30th, then it's gone and the limit resets for the year.

If you attend just one class at a time for the year you will attend enough to be able to apply for FAFSA at least as a half time student. If you use your FAFSA money for more courses you could bump that up to three quarters. One to two classes at a time will allow you to maintain a high GPA and progress steadily towards your degree with no money out of your pocket. In the future you may want to apply for degree commissioning programs like the PA program, Nursing program, or Physical Therapy Baylor program, or even just OCS. Having a high science GPA and overall GPA will make you more competitive than your peers and give you a better chance at getting selected.

Response by SPC Stewart Smith made Jan 6 at 2020 10:08 AM

SPC Stewart Smith — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 10:08:59 -0500

I feel the difficulty will come from the "level" of classes you are taking.
You will have plenty of time to do online courses while you are active duty. If you decide to go out and party every night, you're probably not going to set aside the time needed to do your school work.
Proper time management is key to completing school while on active duty.

Response by SFC Joshua Murtha made Jan 7 at 2020 1:08 AM

SFC Joshua Murtha — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 01:08:44 -0500

Honestly how easy it difficult it can be is entirely up to you. It's about the effort and work you put into getting your degree. Even with deployments there's still a way to get the work done, all be it a lil slower while deployed, but none the less still achievable. Just give yourself a small goal when u first start then when u reach that goal move to the next bigger one each time until complete. Hope that helped despite the long winded answer.