Education center assists potential students combating 'mammoth-sized' degree decisions

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jennifer Lindsey
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany (USAFENS) --  I suppose it makes sense to add the word “combat” on military programs. Life in the military has its own unique challenges, not typically experienced in the civilian world. But what does Combat Education, which has more to do with books than jets, have to offer our military community? Well, quite a bit, I recently found out.

The base education center’s yellow booklet entitled, “Combat Education,” outlines the many personal education programs the center provides. The booklet is available for free at the education center front desk, where loads of other free information is displayed for Team Eifel members to research and develop ideas about their education goals.

I’ve been plugging away at my own goal of earning a university degree for years and from listening to classmates I’ve discovered that education goals vary as much as individual circumstances. Whether a person is single, married, with children or without, retired or even a high school senior, education center guidance counselors have a variety of programs from which to choose.

Based on experience, I suggest that people who are thinking about taking college classes first visit a guidance counselor and devise an education plan. Following a plan is helpful when working to meet short-, medium- and long-term goals, which could take two or more military tours to complete. As the old joke goes, “What’s the best way to eat an elephant?” “One bite at a time.”

Another big bite to take is figuring out how to make getting a higher education affordable. The counselors can also provide coaching on the variety of tuition assistance programs and scholarships available to military members, retirees, spouses and children.

The next bite is finding the time to take classes. The college and university branches available on most Air Force bases and online know this is a big challenge and one that typically prevents working adults from pursuing a college degree. On-base colleges offer a variety of lower, mid-level and upper-level classes at all sorts of time of days, some are during the weekday and others take place over a couple of weekends.

For those whose do shift work that varies weekly, online courses may be a good option. Again, education counselors can offer insight as to how these courses work.

The Air Force has taken time into account also. The Combat Education booklet and other pamphlets outline how College Level Examination Program and Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support, commonly called CLEP and DANTES tests, work. These tests score how much knowledge a person already has in college subjects such as English composition, speech, natural and social sciences, mathematics and history.

CLEP and DANTES scoring qualifications for college credits vary from school to school, but many Airmen earn passing rates for Community College of the Air Force in college mathematics, natural sciences, and information systems and computer applications.

Working long hours, participating in military exercises and “deployability” may add challenges to meeting personal education goals, but reams of printed information and one-on-one counseling makes the Combat Education challenge much more manageable. The only challenge the center can’t help potential students with is motivation -- some elephant sandwiches must be noshed alone.