Veteran Opts for MBA, Not Unemployment

Jeff Dunn enlisted in the Army in August 1999 because he needed a little direction in his life and the opportunity to serve his country seemed like a good idea. He always planned to get a degree, but knew his parents couldn't afford to put him and his sibling through college at once, so he enlisted.

Studying While Serving: Duty Comes First

Dunn figured out quickly that a long-term military career wasn't for him. "I really appreciate the opportunity to have served my country and the opportunity to have served with the high caliber Americans that I did, but towards the end of my enlistment, my focus shifted to obtaining a college degree. After serving the last two years under, high op-tempo conditions, I felt that I would not be able to achieve this goal while actively serving and decided to separate and attend college," said Dunn. Dunn hit on something that authors David Renza and Edmund Lizotte discuss in their book Military Education Benefits for College. Though it's very beneficial for a servicemember to enroll in school while on active duty--military education benefits like the $4,500 of Tuition Assistance can be utilized--but the bottom line is that duty comes first.

But it wasn't a lack of support or encouragement that caused Dunn to put off his education until after he'd separated, "Every NCO I have ever served with has stressed the importance of self-improvement. Many suggest taking online courses [while] in the service. Due to the op-tempo and work schedule during my service, this did not really work for me. I also feel that for the first part of my service, I was not necessarily ready for school. My time in service allowed and helped me mature to a point where I was personally ready to excel in school."

Extra Military Education Benefits? Get Another Degree

Dunn separated from the Army in 2003, but then served a year and a half in the New Jersey National Guard in 2007.His service ensured he had plenty of military education benefits. If fact, he had extra.

Dunn first earned an associate's degree in business administration magna cum laude and a bachelor's of arts degree in individualized studies with a concentration in business cum laude. He used his Montgomery GI Bill combined with scholarships to finance his education. But in 1999 when Dunn enlisted in the Army, the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent, which is the second lowest it has been in more than a decade. By the time he was out of the military and armed with a bachelor's degree, the state of the economy wasn't exactly what he'd hoped it would be. Instead of struggling with a job search in a down economy, Dunn saw an opportunity, "I chose to pursue an MBA in light of the recent economic downturn. After completing my bachelor's, I still had benefit remaining. There are many people out there looking for work, and I realize that it can't hurt to further differentiate myself with a master's." Dunn is now using his Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit with the Yellow Ribbon Program to pay for his master's degree.

Veterans' Unemployment: Why Education Matters

Dunn's decision is a smart one for a few reasons. First, with a master's degree, Dunn has the potential to earn a better salary. If he'd never gone to college after the military, he would have fallen into the group of veterans who earns around $32,500 a year. An associate's degree bumps the average salary for a veteran up to $39,500, and a bachelor's increases the average to around $53,000. Those who hold master's degrees, on the other hand, earn even more: $65,000--almost double the median annual salary of those who don't earn degrees. The bonus for Dunn is that he didn't pay for his education out of pocket, and won't have student loans to repay.

Second, his timing is spot-on. December 2010 employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the jobless rate for veterans who served after Sept. 11, 2001 is up to 11.7 after a percentage of 10.0 in November. The national unemployment rate hovered around 9.0 for both months. The unemployment rate for all veterans--not just young veterans--tends to be lower than for non-veterans. For example, in 2009, male veterans over the age of 20 had an 8.1 jobless rate compared to 9.8 percent of male nonveterans who were unemployed. But even this lower rate of unemployment is still high, comparatively.

If veterans have education benefits available, now might be a very good time to learn from Dunn's example. The benefits they earned through their military service can pay even bigger returns the long run if they invest their time and energy into an education.

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