military education guide
brought to you by
In Session
Education Ally
Back to School
By Heidi Lynn Russell
By Anayat Durrani
MOAA helps servicememVeterans share their stories
bers and their families access of transitioning from the
educational benefits.
military to college.
Illustration by Jacob Thomas
month 2005
Military officer
A
Table of Contents
Education Ally
C
MOAA works on education initiatives.
Back to School
J
After service, veterans head back to class.
Higher Education Breakdown
F
Ensuring a Fair Education
G
Spouses Offered OpportunitiesH
GI Bill ResourcesH
Keep Your BearingsN
Transfer Your Military ExperienceO
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Contents of Military Officer articles are the opinions solely
of the authors and do not necessarily express the policy or
opinions of the publisher. Similarly, the advertisements do not
reflect an endorsement by the association unless so indicated.
Military Officer is a registered trademark of MOAA. Printed
in the USA.
military education guide
Education
Ally
MOAA staff work hard to
ensure servicemembers
and their families receive
the education to which
their service and sacrifice
entitle them. By Heidi Lynn Russell
•
photos/images: TKTK
M OAA ’ s M i l i t a r y E d u c a t i o n G u i d e
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Military officer
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military education guide
Jake Brown
was on his own to pay for college. • And he
couldn’t swing it. In fact, he dropped out of
school for a year and worked for $8 an hour as
a used-car salesperson. • All that changed when
i th 1 3 siblin gs at h o m e ,
his father, an Air Force lieutenant
colonel, discovered an interest-free
loan program offered by MOAA.
Brown used it for the next four years,
graduating in 2009 with a degree in
business administration/marketing
from Christopher Newport University
in Newport News, Va. Today, Brown,
25, is a marketing account executive
with a firm in Herndon, Va., where he
supervises a 10-person team.
“There’s no chance I’d have
the position I’m in if it wasn’t for
MOAA,” he says. “I don’t know if I’d
be selling used cars. But for the job I
got after school, it was mandatory for
me to have a degree and marketing
background. It’s been fantastic!”
Brown’s story is one familiar
among MOAA members. Whether
helping students obtain tuition assistance, counseling members on their
military service benefits, or knocking
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M i l i t a r y o f f i c e r o c t o ber 2 0 1 2
on doors on Capitol Hill, the association is on the front lines of a battle to
preserve educational resources for
its members and their families.
The MOAA Scholarship
Fund
Col. Jim O’Brien, USAF-Ret., CFO
and director of MOAA’s Finance and
Scholarship Department, says since
1948, more than 12,000 students like
Brown have benefited from the association’s scholarship program.
“MOAA does so many great things,
but this is one of the greatest and
most impactful things we do,” O’Brien
says. “MOAA pays for all of the costs
associated to manage this effort. Students benefit from people who donate.
We’re maximizing these dollars. Onehundred percent goes to the students.”
On average, MOAA gives $9 million in loans and grants a year. About
M OAA ’ s M i l i t a r y E d u c a t i o n G u i d e
25 percent of each year’s 1,600 recipients are new to the program, O’Brien
says, adding that up to 40 percent of
total new applicants are accepted.
MOAA is proud of the programs it
offers. “We all have heard about the
struggles and the student loan crisis,
how the bubble is over a trillion dollars in loans,” O’Brien says. “We give
military kids and families loans, and
they pay them back, and that enables
us to keep going and going.”
For military families, MOAA
wants to provide as much help as
possible, says Capt. Bud Schneeweis,
USCG-Ret., director of MOAA’s
Benefits Information and Financial
Education Department.
“They have overcome considerable challenges in their elementary
and secondary education — moving
around to three or four high schools
and many grade schools, living overphotos: Above and previous spread, shutterstock
Cost Analysis
Cost of average undergraduate education in 2009-10, including tuition, room, and board:
• Public
$7,703
Two-year
• Private
$15,014
$24,483
Four-year
$32,790
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2010.
Aid Factor
The average financial aid
available to an undergraduate student is $9,100 a
year. Much of this aid is in
the form of federal dollars.
Any aid
65.6%
Graduate Expense
Grants
51.7%
Tuition, fees, books and materials, and living expenses add up. Excluding grants, teaching
assistantships, and fellowships, one year of full-time graduate education costs:
Student loans
38.5%
Work study
7.4%
$29,000
Veterans’ benefits
2.1%
$33,700
Parent PLUS loans
3.8%
Average
Private
Public
Master’s degree
$34,600
$39,600
Doctoral program
$39,700
$47,100
First-professional program
$46,500
$53,700
$37,300
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2007–08 National Postsecondary Student Aid
Study Student Financial Aid Estimates for 2007–08.
Source: U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Education Statistics, 2007–08 National Postsecondary
Student Aid Study Student Financial
Aid Estimates for 2007–08.
Bringing Home the Bacon
Higher education can mean higher pay. Check out the median annual earnings of full-year, full-time
workers ages 25-34, by highest level of educational attainment and gender for 2010. Professional
and doctorate degrees often mean average yearly life earnings soar above six figures.
Some high school
High school
Associate
Bachelor’s
Master’s or higher
Male
$24,000
$32,800
$39,000
$49,800
$64,200
Female
$17,800
$25,000
$34,700
$40,000
$49,800
What’s Your
Major?
It’s not hard to guess
the most popular majors. Many correspond
to typical high-earning
job fields.
Bachelor’s
Business
Social sciences
and history
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education 2012.
Health sciences
Education
Student Priorities
Percentage of first-time beginning undergraduates and their reasons for attending their institution
of choice:
Education
Military students
Nonmilitary nontraditional
students
Nonmilitary traditional
students
Business
Location
75.3
77.8
78.1
Doctoral
Program/coursework
52.3
61
53.1
Health/clinical sciences
Cost
46.7
49.3
59.4
Personal/family
29.7
36.2
40.6
29
41.3
51.2
18.7
13.4
16.6
School’s reputation
Other
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Persistence and Attainment of 2003-04 Beginning
Postsecondary Students: After 6 Years.
F
Master’s
M i l i t a r y o f f i c e r o c t o ber 2 0 1 2
M OAA ’ s M i l i t a r y E d u c a t i o n G u i d e
Education
Engineering
Biological/biomedical
sciences
Physical sciences
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics, Digest of Education
Statistics, 2010.
military education guide
MOAA Tuition
Assistance
Interest-free loans, MOAA’s
main education assistance program, are renewable annually
for up to five years of full-time
undergraduate study, says Laurie
Wavering, MOAA educational
assistance program director. The
program provides $5,500 loans
(and some grants to college
seniors). Children under age 24
of former, active, or retired officers or active or retired enlisted
military personnel are eligible.
If a child served in a uniformed
service before completing college, his or her maximum age
for eligibility will be increased by
the number of years he or she
served, up to five years.
The American Patriot Program is for children of an active duty, Reserve, or National
Guard parent who died on active service, Wavering says. The
surviving spouse’s membership
in MOAA is required. The award
amount depends on donations
but will be at least $2,500.
Qualified students are selected
on a basis of scholastic ability,
activities, and financial need.
The number of scholarships is
determined by the amount of
funds raised.
seas, having their moms and dads
gone,” Schneeweis says. “Most children thrive despite it. If we can give
them a leg up, so much the better.”
Getting word out
About one in four servicemembers
takes advantage of one of the U.S.
armed services’ tuition assistance
programs, according to a DoD report
released in December 2011. And the
VA says up to 700,000 active duty serphoto: shutterstock
Ensuring a Fair Education
If you’ve ever seen a military-focused advertisement from a for-profit
school and thought the school might have been more interested in a GI
bill payday than your education, you’re not alone. Legislators have proposed changing various rules concerning the GI bill to make less effective the “slick marketing” techniques and misleading information some
schools have used to their financial advantages.
In February and March, the Military and Veterans Education Protection Act and the Military and Veterans Educational Reform Act were
introduced in the House and Senate (H.R. 4055 and S. 2179, respectively). These acts aim to improve the playing field, so veterans have a
better idea of the education they’re getting before they sign on. Schools
would be required to disclose graduation rates and default rates. Complaints about particular schools would be monitored by the Pentagon,
and schools no longer would be able to report VA and DoD education
payments as private tuition payments rather than as federal funds.
“It is important to protect veterans and ensure they are armed
with enough information to make the right choice and prevent profitdriven institutions from taking advantage of them solely for their GI
bill benefits — without providing a quality education in return,” the VA
acknowledged in a press release. VA officials said an argument exists
for including VA funding in each school’s 90-percent federal cap on forprofit tuition.
The GI Educational Freedom Act (S. 2206), introduced in March,
would require all veterans receiving educational assistance through the
VA to receive counseling services and would require complaints of education fraud, waste, and abuse to be processed and tracked.
To read more from the VA about the proposed legislation, visit
http://bit.ly/qWtN4m.
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Spouses
Offered
Opportunities
Military spouses have access
to many of the same resources
as their servicemember. Some
might receive the Post-9/11 GI
Bill if their servicemember is
qualified to transfer it.
There also are Servicemember
Opportunity Colleges that belong
to a consortium of higher-education institutions with flexible
policies that allow servicemembers and eligible dependents to
complete their educations, rather
than just earn credits. More than
1,900 institutions participate in
this DoD-funded program.
Finally, the Military Spouse
Career Advancement Accounts
(MyCAA) program can mean up
to $2,000 a year if you qualify.
Don’t discount traditional
education resources such as Pell
Grants, state assistance, scholarships, and subsidized loans.
Complete the Free Application
For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
that tells you what federal and
state resources you’re eligible for.
Once you’re in school, prep
for the workforce. Navy spouse
Rachel McDonough Kelly started
networking when she was a firstyear law student at the College of
William and Mary in Virginia.
“I started with MOAA and
connected with everyone I
could,” she says. The relationships landed her a fellowship
with the 10-week Washington
Scholars Program.
“If all military spouses are of
the same character and commitment ... please have them apply,”
says Rear Adm. Jim Carey, USNRet., founder of the program.
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M i l i t a r y o f f i c e r o c t o ber 2 0 1 2
GI Bill Resources
• G.I. Jobs’ Military Friendly Schools list honors the top 20 percent
of universities and trade schools that embrace servicemembers and
veterans as students. Schools on the list have high marks for veteran
recruitment, scholarships and discounts, veterans’ clubs, and acceptance of military experience for academic credit. Find the list at www
.militaryfriendlyschools.com.
• The VA’s “Factors to Consider When Choosing a School” and school
and training searches are available at www.gibill.va.gov/resources/edu
cation_resources/choosing_a_school.html.
• Determine which career field best suits you with resources from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics at www.bls.gov/k12/index.htm and the National Center for O*NET development for the U.S. Department of Labor’s
Employment and Training Administration at www.mynextmove.org.
• To decide whether you should use the Montgomery GI Bill or Post9/11 GI Bill, access the VA’s comparison chart at www.gibill.va.gov.
Click on “Compare the Programs.”
• Other large, curated college search engines include Forbes’ “America’s
Best Colleges” at www.forbes.com/top-colleges, the College Board’s
search at www.collegeboard.com, U.S. News & World Report’s rankings
at http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges, the
Princeton Review’s 376 Best Colleges at www.princetonreview.com/
rankingsbest.aspx, and Peterson’s College Search at www.petersons
.com/college-search.aspx.
M OAA ’ s M i l i t a r y E d u c a t i o n G u i d e
photo: Shutterstock
military education guide
vicemembers and veterans are using
the new Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit.
More military families could be tapping these benefits, says Schneeweis.
That’s why MOAA works to keep its
members informed via Military Officer and its e-newsletters, special
alerts, and web pages devoted to the
Post-9/11 GI Bill. Counselors can be
reached by calling (800) 234-MOAA
(6622) or emailing [email protected].
“The drawback today is that
troops are really busy,” Schneeweis
says. “I believe they do know about
these benefits but aren’t able to take
advantage, because the operations
tempo is so high right now.”
MOAA also works to ensure members understand small changes to the
Post-9/11 GI Bill since it first passed
in 2009, Schneeweis says. For example, a housing allowance no longer
is paid during school break periods.
Additionally, active duty students are
now eligible for an annual $1,000 stipend for books.
Benefits boost
But until they do take advantage,
MOAA has been working hard to
preserve the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Karen
Golden, deputy director of Government Relations/Military Family Issues, says, “We believe strongly in
protecting this benefit. There’s a lot of
legislation we’re working to protect.”
For example, certain for-profit
institutions of higher learning were
taking unscrupulous advantage of
servicemembers. After a 12-month investigation, extensive legislation was
proposed “to shut off the inroads to
the bad actors,” Golden says. On April
27, the White House issued an executive order, crafted by MOAA and
partner organizations, supporting servicemembers’ educational benefits.
Provisions of bills currently under
consideration might be rolled into the
National Defense Authorization Act,
Golden says. MOAA has worked with
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), author of the
Military and Veterans Educational
Reform Act, which would require institutions to report and track graduations rates, degree-granting rates, and
data from military members enrolling
in programs. It endorses one-on-one
counseling for prospective students
using military benefits, Golden says.
MOAA also supported a bipartisan
bill (authored by Sen. Barbara Boxer
[D-Calif.]) to trademark the phrase
“GI bill” so websites could not use it
to funnel prospective students to forprofit institutions. “Several months
ago ... the first site for that search
term was not the VA site,” Golden
says. “It was very misleading.”
In the summer, owners of the
domain gibill.com turned over their
name to the VA. “That is a positive,
quick outcome,” Golden says. MO
­­ Heidi Lynn Russell is a freelance
—
writer based in Kentucky. Her last feature
article for Military Officer was
“4 Industries to Scout,” May 2012.
Online Resources
MOAA Educational Assistance: www.moaa.org/education (Access an
application during the application open period from Nov. 1 – March 1.)
• Scholarship Fund: www.moaa.org/scholarshipfund
• Scholarship search engine: www.moaa.org/scholarshipfinder
• Anyone interested in making a donation to the MOAA Scholarship Fund
or setting up a named scholarship should contact Rose McDermott at
[email protected] or (800) 234-MOAA (6622), ext. 169. Donations also
can be made online at www.moaa.org/donatenow.
•
M OAA ’ s M i l i t a r y E d u c a t i o n G u i d e
At Amazon, we strive to be Earth’s
most customer-centric company.
To get there, we need exceptionally
talented and innovative leaders
that can drive change and deliver
results at internet speed. Within
the last 18 months, Amazon has
hired hundreds of transitioning
military leaders from across the
globe. We value veterans and the
unique experiences and capabilities
they bring to the table. Leadership
principles are intrinsic to Amazon’s
culture, growth and success; many
of these principles resonate with
today’s armed forces, along with
our fast-paced and dynamic work
environment. Amazon is making
history and the great news is that
we’ve just begun. At Amazon, it’s
still Day 1.
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photos/images: TKTK
military education guide
kcaB
School
to
Veterans share their personal
stories of transitioning from the
military to college. By Anayat Durrani
•
photos/images: TKTK
or th e approx i m at ely 80 0,0 0 0 m ili tary
v e tera n s n ow at t e n di n g U . S. co lleges,
according to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions, family responsibilities,
returning to an academic setting, feelings of alienation
from traditional college students, and mental and/or physical injuries
can make transitioning from the battlefield to the classroom sometimes difficult. Seven veterans share the challenges they have faced
and what has helped ease their transitions.
Bringing veterans together
Six-year Air Force veteran Senior
Airman Keith E. Williams wasted no
time after separating from the military in 2005. He dived right into college as a full-time student, picking
up an associate degree in criminal
justice and a bachelor’s degree in
political science. He’s currently pursuing a law degree at the University
of Southern California (USC). “Comparatively, it’s been great,”
Williams says. “An 8 a.m. class is
late compared to PT [physical training] at 5:30 a.m.”
He says the toughest part of transitioning from military life to college
life has been meeting new people.
Few other veterans were enrolled
during his first three years in school,
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M i l i t a r y o f f i c e r o c t o ber 2 0 1 2
making it difficult to find people with
whom he had things in common.
“It took me a long time before I
really made an effort to befriend civilians, and even still it is difficult,”
he says. “With other veterans, there
is an understanding. We’ve all been
through the same stuff.”
In 2008, Williams and other veterans started the USC Veterans Association, of which Williams currently
serves as vice president. The association is part of the Student Veterans of
America (www.studentveterans.org),
an organization that has chapters on
more than 500 campuses and whose
mission is “to provide military veterans with the resources, support, and
advocacy needed to succeed in higher
education and following graduation.”
M OAA ’ s M i l i t a r y E d u c a t i o n G u i d e
Williams says the USC Veterans
Association has helped bring veterans together and their needs to the
attention of the university, yielding
“some really great changes.”
Changing habits
Former Marine Corps Cpl. Patrick
Greene served one tour in Iraq and
recently was accepted into the nursing
program at Rutgers University in New
Jersey. He says he decided to pursue
a degree after a spinal cord and back
injury that required spinal-fusion surgery scrapped his post-military plans
of joining the Tampa, Fla., fire department with his father and brother.
“Transitioning from the military
to college has its ups and downs,”
Greene says. “It has been a transiphotos: above and previous spread, shutterstock
military education guide
NAVY SEAL
NA
D ISCOV ER YOURS
tion period. What was acceptable,
everyday routine and jargon in the
infantry turns out to be barbaric
and inappropriate in the rest of the
world. So you just learn to change
some habits.”
Greene says Rutgers’ Veterans
House has made the transition
much smoother. He says the tutoring services and having a place to
go interact with other veterans are
very beneficial.
Finding camaraderie
Former Petty Officer 2nd Class
Kami Rae Fluetsch served in the
Navy for eight years and worked
in the medical field specializing in
cardiovascular medicine. She was
honorably discharged in December
2010 and currently is pursuing a
degree in international studies and
premed at the University of Colorado Denver. Her overall college
experience has been positive.
“I really like the fact that [the
University of Colorado] Denver is a
commuter campus and has an older
population, because it doesn’t make
me feel like the oldest person in my
classes,” Fluetsch says. “I have also
been involved with various student
groups on campus including the
Veterans Student Organization
[VSO] and have felt that camaraderie that I once had in the Navy
again, which has very much helped
that transition.”
She hopes to be part of the VSO’s
mentorship program next year so
she can assist incoming veteran
students just as she was helped.
She said the main challenges she
has faced are functioning in a very
unstructured environment as well
as learning time-management and
personal study skills. She said the
biggest surprise has been finding
each of her classes has at least five
veteran students in it.
M OAA ’ s M i l i t a r y E d u c a t i o n G u i d e
mbadna.com
“Overall, I am just very thankful for the Post-9/11 GI Bill and
the housing allowance it offers,”
Fluetsch says. “It is the only reason
I am able to be a full-time college
student and the only way that next
fall I will be able to say that I am a
college graduate, which would be
such an amazing accomplishment.”
The Post-9/11 GI Bill covers
tuition, fees, living stipends, and
book allowances. The bill will help
pay for the education of more than
606,000 individuals during FY
2013, according to the VA.
Streamlining enrollment
Justin L. Sasso was an Army chief
warrant officer and a Black Hawk
pilot who served two tours in Iraq.
Now, he’s pursuing a bachelor’s degree in political science at Rutgers
University and maintains a 4.0 GPA
while working full time. He originally applied to Rutgers online, as
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well as for the Chapter 31 vocational
rehabilitation benefits that he receives for neck and back injuries.
“The process is even easier now,
because since I have been a student
at Rutgers, the Office of Veterans
Services has been established,”
Sasso says. “They have really
streamlined the process of getting
[servicemembers], reservists, and
veterans enrolled at Rutgers and
helping them receive their benefits,
all things that I had to figure out on
my own.”
Getting faculty support
Keep Your Bearings
If you’re not already set on a particular school, the search can be daunting.
Almost everyone seems to have an opinion about where you should go,
how much you should be willing to pay, and where you’ll get the best education and experience. Use a variety of resources on your hunt, and keep
your individual goals in mind. Make sure to consider these attributes:
• your career direction and its relation to the programs offered;
• the type of school (Is it a training program, a community college, or a
four-year university?);
• the campus environment;
• academic support services;
• credit transferability;
• the school or program’s accreditations, certifications, and licenses;
• retention and loan default rates;
• admissions selectivity; and
• financial aid, scholarships, and grants.
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M OAA ’ s M i l i t a r y E d u c a t i o n G u i d e
Former Marine Corps sniper Sgt.
Richard V. Gilbert is president of
the student veterans’ organization
at University of California, San
Diego. During his five years in the
Marine Corps, he was injured on his
second deployment to the Middle
East and had to undergo two years
of rehab. Having promised his father he would pursue a college degree after he finished rehab, he kept
his word and is pursuing a Bachelor
of Arts in communications.
“My experiences in college
have been amazing.” Gilbert says.
“I couldn’t ask for a better experience. The staff and professors are
extremely supportive of me and my
goals, and they’re always here to help
me if I need it. I continuously feel
smarter and smarter, and I have my
eyes opened every day to new things
I never thought existed.”
Opening up to different
perspectives
Now former Army Sgt. Betty Lott
completed a bachelor’s degree in
English in 2008 while still serving
in the Army. After returning from
her civilian tour in Iraq and while
in the Army Reserve, she began her
second bachelor’s degree in international studies at the University
of Colorado Denver. She works
full-time at Lockheed Martin Corp.,
photo: Shutterstock
military education guide
and, with the two years left on her
Post-9/11 GI Bill, she plans to pursue a graduate degree as well.
Lott says she believes college is
a great opportunity for someone
transitioning out of the military. She
does note, however, colleges oftentimes are very liberal-leaning.
“Many professors are very open
about their stance on politics, and
it is very different from the politics
of the military,” Lott says. “I would
hope that former military members are not discouraged by these
types of encounters but are able
to see the world through differing
perspectives and open their minds
to alternative ways of viewing the
foreign-policy decisions our government has made.” Using support resources
Former Spc. Stephen Wyrick, a
veteran of the Army and Colorado
National Guard, says he believes
veterans can be just as successful — or more — in college as in the
military. Wyrick, who is 60-percent
disabled, is majoring in theater,
film, and TV at the University of
Colorado Denver. He says succeeding takes the same motivation and
attention to detail that was taught
in the military. He also learned
to take advantage of campus student resources and organizations
as well as have a support network
of friends.
“School can be a war of its own,”
he says. “And even though the nicely printed paper you receive at the
end of your four years has just your
name on it, school is a community
and takes more than one person to
make it through successfully.”
Building an identity outside
the military
Army National Guard veteran Spc.
Diana Aguayza says Kingsborough Community College, based in
Brooklyn, N.Y., has helped reignite
her passion for life. She suffered
from “terrible depression” upon
completing her contract with the
military in 2010.
“I felt out of place in the civilian world,” Aguayza says. “I had
grown accustomed to being around
a certain discipline of people. Life
got surprisingly difficult, and having
an autistic child was complicating
things even more.”
A scarcity of jobs didn’t make
things easier. Aguayza started attending Kingsborough under the
continuing education program for
medical assistant certification. She
received guidance and support
from the school’s Veterans Affairs
Student Office.
“Fighting against my insecurities and anxiety, I registered for the
academic year fall 2011,” Aguayza
says. “I discovered when I started
attending Kingsborough that the
start of building my education also
started building a person outside of
the military.” MO
­­— Anayat Durrani is a freelance writer
based in California. Her last feature article for Military Officer was “App-titude,”
August 2012.
Transfer Your Military Experience
Time spent as an engineer, an aircraft mechanic, or a data network specialist or in many other military occupations can be turned into college credit. At individual college and universities’ discretions, servicemembers might
qualify for college credit from completed service institute courses, training courses, distance education programs, or military occupational specialty schools.
“We take a look at the content to determine if there is a similarity between the course syllabuses when
deciding if the individual should be accredited for their efforts while serving in the military,” says former
Marine Corps Master Sgt. Les Brediger, University of South Carolina – Beaufort’s military program director.
Each service has its own system to track and report potential education credits. These were created in part by
the American Council on Education and help servicemembers translate their military experience and knowledge
into terms recognizable to leaders of the American workforce.
• Army: Army/American Council on Education Registry Transcript System, https://aarts.army.mil. Army officers use
DD Form 295 (Application for Evaluation of Learning), http://images.military.com/Resources/Forms/DD_295.pdf
• Navy and Marine Corps: Sailor/Marine American Council on Education Registry Transcript, https://smart
.navy.mil
• Air Force: The Community College of the Air Force, www.au.af.mil/au/ccaf/transcripts.asp
• Coast Guard: The Coast Guard Institute, http://bit.ly/SRdkEN
• Veterans: If you are not eligible to use your service branch’s transcript system, use DD Form 295 and provide
your DD Form 214 discharge document.
— Lance Cpl. Rubin J. Tan, USMC
M OAA ’ s M i l i t a r y E d u c a t i o n G u i d e
o c t o ber 2 0 1 2
Military officer
O
THE MOAA INFO EXCHANGE®
For more than 80 years, MOAA has been fighting for the interests of
officers and their families. We understand the challenges you face because
we’re officers just like you, and we’re ready to share our expertise and
experience. The MOAA Info Exchange® provides guides and reference
tools to help you navigate the challenges that arise at each stage of life.
Benefits and Financial Planning Guide
Seven Steps to a Better Military Retirement
Marketing Yourself for a Second Career
Focus on You: A Career Handbook for Spouses
Family Matters
Military Entitlements: Benefits for Guard and Reserve
Military Legislative Family Action Guide
SBP Made Easy
For more information on these
and other MOAA publications,
call (800) 234-6622 or visit us
online at www.MOAA.org.
Military Officers Association of America
201 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314
(800) 234-MOAA (6622) • www.moaa.org
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