Go the Distance: Military Life

Online degree programs, also known as distance learning, make the grade with military lifestyles.

Frequent moves can leave military spouses with a resume that includes a smorgasbord of professional certifications, workplace education, and miscellaneous college credits, but not an undergraduate degree.

Today, however, it is possible to turn prior education, life experience, and academic credits into a degree from a distance-learning college.

Nontraditional degree programs offered by distance-learning colleges allow students to transfer in nearly all the credits needed for graduation and fill in gaps with online classes or a single capstone course.

A handful of colleges are at the forefront of nontraditional learning programs. They include Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey, Charter Oak State College in Connecticut, Excelsior College in New York, and Capella University in Minnesota.

Professor George Gollin, a Council for Higher Education Accreditation board member, points to the so-called "Big 3" of distance learning – Thomas Edison, Charter Oak and Excelsior – as examples of schools that allow military spouses to "vacuum up their academic credits" and turn them into a college degree.

"These regionally accredited schools have faculty who work with students to evaluate what they have done picking up credits at other schools and what they need to do to get a degree," said Gollin, a physics professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

On the Rise
A decade ago, distance-learning programs were viewed as the ugly stepchild of higher education. That is no longer the case as more traditional brick-and-mortar schools, including Ivy League universities, offer online options.

"Online education has come into the mainstream," says retired Army Col. Calvin Syndor III, director of the religious studies online degree program at Hampton University in Virginia. "Back in the early '90s, some institutions were looking at it with a jaundiced eye, but online education today is accepted by first-rate colleges and universities. Studies have shown students learn just as effectively online as they do face-to-face."

Flexible Programs
Nontraditional distance-learning programs cater toward adult learners by allowing students to earn college credit through alternate ways. At Thomas Edison, for example, up to 120 credits earned at regionally accredited four-year institutions and 80 credits earned at community colleges can be transferred. The school's flexible learning methods also allow students to demonstrate knowledge through testing or Prior Learning Assessment courses.

Similarly, Charter Oak State College accepts up to 87 credits from other regionally accredited institutions and may award credit for licensures and certifications, community or corporate-sponsored education, and "portfolio assessments," which enable students to receive credit for life experiences.

Excelsior, which allows students to "bank" undergraduate credits from a wide variety of sources, has the country's largest nursing program. It also offers certificate as well as advanced degree programs. With on-site representatives at more than 50 military installations, Excelsior is well positioned in the military community.

Support Services
"We have a long history of serving the military," says Susan Dewan, executive director of the Excelsior Center for Military Education. "We offer specialized programs that I believe meet everyone's needs."

Because online education requires students to be self-motivated and manage their time well, Dewan says Excelsior takes steps to ensure students will be successful.

"That's done through having online support services and a strong academic advising program to make sure students are enrolled in the right courses at the right time," she says. "We also have developed an online orientation program for those students who have perhaps never taken an online course."

Finding an online-degree program that caters to military families was key for Air Force spouse Tammy Skipper, who had earned an associate's degree immediately after high school but had been able to take only a handful of college courses since then.

Skipper and her husband both enrolled at Capella after attending a school-sponsored information session while stationed in Aviano, Italy.

After comparing distance education programs, Skipper says they picked Capella because it "seemed to understand the demands of military life, both for him as a learner and for myself."

Those demands resulted in Skipper having to take a stutter-step approach to completing her degree. She took her first class through Capella in 2005, resumed taking courses part-time in 2008, and last year went full time for one semester in order to complete her business degree.

Military spouse Nicole Lovald, manager of military affairs for Capella, says it is important to find a college with a strong military support system.

"We have people who can speak the same language and understand the challenges," she notes. "If I have a military spouse who calls me and says, 'My assignment is late because my husband is deploying to Iraq this week and I am freaking out,' we understand that and can make some accommodations."

Skipper, who works as a sales consultant for Mary Kay Cosmetics, says her business courses began paying dividends long before she finished her degree. She advises other spouses not to let the challenges of a military lifestyle force you to lose sight of your goals.

"It is powerful when you recognize the position you are in as a military spouse," Skipper says. "You are different than people who don't have to move. You are different than people who don't have to make changes in life, but at the same time you can use that to your advantage and find the resources that are going to help you reach your goals."

Tuition & Fees
That includes taking advantage of tuition discounts and scholarships for military spouses. Excelsior offers need-based military spouse scholarships while spouses of combat-wounded servicemembers at Thomas Edison are eligible for the school's Wounded Warrior scholarship program.

Charter Oak extends in-state tuition and fees to spouses of active duty military members and activated National Guard and Reservists. Likewise, Capella offers spouses a 15-percent tuition discount on undergraduate programs and a 10-percent savings on graduate programs.

The cost of attending an online college is not necessarily less than a brick-and-mortar institution. In addition to tuition charges, distance-learning colleges may charge application, enrollment, and graduation fees as well as require payment for evaluating transfer credit and providing annual academic services.

Andrea Downing Peck is a Navy wife who frequently covers military-related issues, personal finance, and education. This article originally appeared in the February 2011 issue of MilitarySpouse Magazine.