Top Five Military Friendly Universities
As hundreds of thousands of veterans have learned over the last twenty years, there is a science and an art to obtaining a college degree and making military training count. Until recently it was also a challenge to extract educational benefits from the Veterans Administration. However with the enactment of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, also known as the New GI Bill, educational opportunities have opened up for active duty military members and veterans alike. There are now dozens of schools that identify themselves as “military friendly,” a category developed by GI Jobs Magazine that is now embraced by the educational establishment.
The Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program, or the Yellow Ribbon Program, is part of the new GI Bill of Rights. It is a voluntary program that colleges and universities can enroll in as a partnership with Department of Veterans Affairs, in which the university contributes funds to a veteran’s tuition and fees when the allocation through the VA is not sufficient. Many universities offer this sort of assistance to veterans, to active GIs and in some instances to spouses.
We have selected five universities that do a superior job in two areas. The first is assisting active military personnel, veterans, and spouses in transferring credits for previous college activity and for military training. The second is in a proactive approach to tuition management, whether it is a close working relationship with the VA and the military command structure or a tuition break for military personnel. Some schools have gone so far as to open up classrooms on bases in their area and in a couple of instances, on bases overseas. Those are the types of activities that define a military friendly university.
1. University of Maryland University College (UMUC) is one of the State of Maryland’s eleven degree granting institutions. It has traditionally been an educational outreach school, providing undergraduate and graduate programs for students who do not readily have access or the means to obtain a college degree. For the military that includes classes offered at bases in at least twenty foreign nations. UMUC is also the largest provider of online education programs among the major public universities in the United States, with fifteen Master of Management degrees, eight Master if Information Technology specializations, an MBA program and several post graduate programs in Homeland Security. The UMUC Military Partnerships include arrangements with fourteen organizations in every branch of the U.S. Military.
2. American Military University is an online institution that was developed expressly for military members and veterans. There are over two dozen masters’ degree programs, many of which were developed with military training in mind as part of the baseline education. Among them are the Masters in National Security, Masters in Criminal Justice, Masters in Emergency & Disaster Management, and Masters in Transpiration and Logistics Management. In addition to degrees oriented to military training there is an accredited MBA program and a Master of Education with five areas of concentration.
3. Capella University is one of the major undergraduate and graduate online institutions in the U.S. They have been aggressive in developing a slate of military assistance options: tuition waivers up to 15%; membership in the Yellow Ribbon Program; flexible military leave policy; smooth transfer of credit for military training; and affiliations with military education branches. The graduate degree choices at Capella span a comprehensive MBA program, five Master of Information Technology specializations, fourteen Masters’ degrees in Education, sixteen Master of Psychology options, and broad graduate programs in nursing and public health.
4. St. Leo University has gone to exceptional lengths to develop a military friendly atmosphere, operating continuing education centers on over twenty military bases nationwide. The University has put a credit transfer program in place that allows for movement among the various St. Leo military campuses and application of other college credits to a St. Leo degree; the school is also a member of the Yellow Ribbon Program. The graduate degree program is centered on the online MBA which is available as a general degree or with five areas of concentration, or “majors.” Those specializations include the Accounting, Health Care Management, Human Resource Administration, Information Security Management, and Sports Business.
5. Western Governors University is a fully accredited online institution established by a bipartisan group of governors, in order to fill an educational gap for students who could not afford a quality education at a traditional university. The school is approved by the Department of Military Affairs for all military and veteran tuition assistance programs, and has a military scholarship program of its own. The graduate degree programs approved for military personnel include the Master of English degree with fifteen areas of specialization, most of which are for teacher preparation. There is also a MBA program with three areas of concentration, a Master of Information Security & Assurance, and a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program.
