Using Benefits by the Book ... Literally

Navigating military education benefits can be daunting, to say the least. Bangor Daily News columnist and military spouse Sarah Smiley recently wrote a scathing article about the new changes to My Career Advancement Account (MyCAA) military education benefits program for spouses. In it she wrote: "I'm pursuing my master's degree in mass communication, thanks to a military spouse career advancement account (MyCAA). I should tell you, however, that I probably needed a PhD to figure out the program's bureaucracy and paperwork. I saw the folder that the bursar's office at the University of Maine kept on my financial aid, and it was as thick as a metropolitan phone book."

Sarah isn't the only one who feels this way -- and that can be intimidating when someone with a master's degree in communications is telling others without any college education that program guidelines are difficult -- if not impossible -- to navigate. There are many members of the military community who are unaware of their available benefits, or where they might go to get answers to their questions.

David Renza, a former retention non-commissioned officer in the Army National Guard discovered this first-hand. He also witnessed how those same education benefits can be used to encourage servicemembers to stay in the military or to enlist new recruits. After all, who would turn down the chance to earn a free education?

Not at first, maybe, but plenty of military personnel put off using their benefits. Some postpone getting an education because they start families. Others decide on a military career, so they don't invest time on civilian education. Still others try to attend college and become confused and discouraged by the enrollment process and red tape involved with actually using the education benefits they'd been promised. Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Lizotte (Ret.) met many eligible military personnel in that very situation during his 25-year career in the U.S. Army.

A Book to Break Down Education Benefits

Together, Renza and Lizotte co-authored the book Military Education Benefits for College: A Comprehensive Guide for Military Members, Veterans, and Their Dependents, published in May 2010. These two veterans also work together at Post University. Lizotte is the director of military programs at the school and Renza is a military enrollment counselor. Their book is specifically for military members and veterans, and capitalizes on Renza and Lizotte's military and education experience. The press release to promote this book advertises, "A comprehensive, readable, informative, and indispensable step-by-step guide into every facet of the education journey."

In spite of what some may deem as cheesy graphics throughout the book of an Army drill sergeant screaming "LISTEN UP--IMPORTANT POINT!" the book is a comprehensive, helpful, step-by-step guide. Early chapters walk the reader through getting started, evaluating whether college is the right choice, selecting a degree program, and selecting a school. Two helpful checklists are provided in the appendices of the book to further guide servicemembers through the system. The first is a list of tasks to help a person with the college enrollment process, and the second is a twenty-question assessment for determining how "military friendly" a school is.

One key chapter, "How Do I Pay for College?" breaks out each of the military education benefits, including the new Post-9/11 GI Bill. Details on eligibility and, in many cases, step-by-step instructions on how to apply for the benefits are included. The point of this section, according to the book, is not to make the reader an expert. The reader should have enough information, however, to know which questions to ask when "speaking to a so-called subject matter expert at the financial aid office."

For example, the authors point out that the Federal Tuition Assistance program is available in the same amount for all branches of service -- regardless of rank or classification, and does not require any additional service requirement. The book also offers information that could only be gleaned from reading deeply into the fine print of governmental policy sheets, "Tuition assistance is available at $4,500 at the beginning of each fiscal year (the program regenerates itself every October, when the fiscal year starts again)."

Renza and Lizotte also explain at length how a servicemember considering a military career can use civilian education to progress through the enlisted ranks and become an officer. Though it was only published earlier this year, some information in the book is already inaccurate due to changes in policy. The book does, in many cases, include links to web pages where up-to-date information should be available. This is just one of the ways the authors show the efforts they made in making Military Education Benefits for College a truly helpful guide.

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