Online college courses require commitment and self discipline-traits that many members of the military already hold. And the flexibility that's inherent with on-line degree programs can prove a welcome constant for soldiers deployed into service or transferred to another base. Continuing education during off-duty time is voluntary and is often free, and experts say there are several benefits to it.
"Voluntary education programs help members improve their mission performance, prepare members for greater responsibility and enhance their professional, as well as their personal, potential," Education Technician Lori Popp of the Lifelong Learning section of Marine and Family Services aboard North Carolina's Camp Lejeune told the Jacksonville Daily News in July 2009.
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act, also known as the GI Bill, was signed in to law in 1944 in part as a means of offering college scholarships to anyone who served in uniform. By 1947, veterans accounted for nearly half of all college students in the United States, according to a Time Magazine article. A Post 9/11 GI Bill has since made as much as 100 percent tuition available to service members on active duty after Sept. 10, 2001. The Post 9/11 Bill covers graduate and undergraduate degrees as well as vocational or technical training provided by approved institutions and provides stipends for books and housing.
Members of the military can gain academic credit for military training and experience. The U.S. Army reportedly partners with more than 1,900 community colleges and universities that accept military training credits from soldiers pursuing a college education during or after service. Many bases are said to feature satellite branches of local, accredited universities and, for many members of the military, online college offerings might be the only option.
Online classes involve obtaining 80 to 100 percent of a course's content online, according to the Sloan Consortium, and distance education typically attract students who otherwise might not be able to attend classes at a traditional campus. Lori Popp told the Jacksonville Daily News that technological advances in distance education now make it easier for deployed service members to continue their education. The consortium, comprised of organizations and institutions committed to quality online education, recently released the results of a study entitled "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States." Between the falls of 2007 and 2008, the study noted, the number of online students increased by 17 percent, to 4.6 million.
More than 1,000 deployed Marines and sailors are benefiting from tuition assistance, Popp told the Daily News. And an October article in The Chronicle of Higher Education described online courses as a "boon for soldiers who want to participate in college despite geographic displacement." The story, about a professor and National Guardsman who continued teaching online classes in economics during a tour of duty in Iraq, reported that soldiers keep occupied during stretches down time by working, reading, exercising, playing video games and watching movies. Many soldiers and other members of the military also enroll in online college or graduate school courses during deployment, The Chronicle piece noted.
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