5 critical questions to ask before you go to college

Good questions. I also looked into obtaining all available college equivalency credits that were available based on military/life experiences. Many of those credits can be “plugged into your “elective” and entry level courses to help keep you from wasting valuable time and resources. I took all the CLEP (College Level Examination Program) exams, which proved a great benefit. As I recall, they were “pass/fail”, so they did not reflect on your GPA. Under the “old GI Bill” program, which typically ran for 36 months, there was a provision that added up to an additional 24 months if you selected Graduate-level goals for your training (rather than simply selecting a “bachelor’s degree”). I chose my goal to be a PHD, which gave me the additional 24 months. A final benefit under the “old GI Bill” was that if you were half-way through your semester in which your benefits “ran out”, the benefits would continue on through that final semester. Be sure to get familiar with these kinds of benefits for the program which you may fall under. Being proactive about your future college goals can result in big payoffs, minimizing waste and redundancy.

Very good advice to anyone thinking about going to college after release from active duty. Hate to get a degree and end up finding it is of little use to you in the real world where people look for the elusive 'experience' but don't want to be the one to train you on the job or pay you while you gain experience.