Difference between revisions from 2010/10/04 00:13 and 2010/10/03 23:54.! Short Version
Just go to the Education Center and tell them you want to take college courses. You could probably walk in, drool on their desk, and they would take it from there. They do the same process for soldiers every single day, so they know how to answer your questions and will be helpful. Here, I'll even make it easier. Just add your Fort's name to this and search, and it will probably come up with a phone number and address for your Ed Center:
{html}<form action="http://www.google.com/search"><input type="text" name="q" value='"Education Center" Fort '><input type="submit"/></form>{/html}
! Longer Version
Everything beyond the version above is merely optimization.
I'll start by explaining the pieces you need to get into motion.
* Get Permission from your Chain of Command
** Take this form: [Army Tuition Assistance Statement of Understanding (TA SOU)|http://panoptic.com/rking/file/up/Annual_TA_SOU.pdf] to your commander (which means give it to your immediate supervisor who will pass it up the chain).
** It is just an agreement where you sign saying you understand that you will pay if you fail for academic reasons, and your Commander is acknowledging that it will put an extra burden on you.
** Bring it to the Ed Center.
* You will need an account at [GoArmyEd|https://www.goarmyed.com/].
** This is a web site that the Army provides so that you can make the Army pay for your classes. It's a slightly painful process, starting right at the beginning how they make you choose a ridiculously complicated password and continuing on to how they make you confirm your address data all the time, and culminating with the horrid "Request TA" interface. You'll just have to dig into some of that "I will Never Quit" sensation.
** "Request TA and Enroll in Course", which is how you get money from the Army to your college, described in more detail below.
* Find a University. You have plenty of choices:
** 100% online
*** http://www.amu.apus.edu/ (My preference. Bonus is the )
*** http://www.phoenix.edu/ (I got my Associates from here, but I have a bad taste about them)
*** ...
** Brick-and-Mortar
*** Usually some local colleges will have a remote campus inside the Education Center. You can probably even find some hybrid classes, where you only go into class once in a while but otherwise the course is online.
** Big Colleges with Online Offerings
*** Penn State University and others: well-esteemed colleges that are starting to offer distance degrees.
That's pretty much it. The whole process can be done in an afternoon.
! Shortcuts
Granted, you do not want to shortchange your education. On the other hand, doing work that you are not passionate about is not going to help you. Lookit:
* [AARTS|http://aarts.army.mil/] - Transfer your Army Basic/AIT/etc. to your University. University of Phoenix and American Military University each gave me 12 credit hours for Infantry OSUT---so if you have a different MOS or additional Army schools you'll get more than that.
* [CLEP!|http://www.nelnetsolutions.com/dod/DODHubPage.aspx?sponsor=12894&HubPage=9] and [DANTES|http://www.nelnetsolutions.com/dod/DODHubPage.aspx?sponsor=12894&HubPage=10048] - I cannot emphasize this enough.
** CLEP = "College Level Exam Program" - You take something like a Final Exam and that's it. Skip the class. Don't do the homework. Zoom right through. It's amazing, and I sort of don't have respect for people that don't maximize this asset. I have heard several arguments:
*** "I don't know if my University will credit me for the class." -- Then check. Just call your Academic Advisor, and they'll help you. Personally, if I found a school that didn't accept CLEP, then I would consider them narrow-minded and switch schools.
*** "I don't think I could pass." -- Then practice. It's just a simple matter of taking the practice tests and doing some Google searches. I assure you that the work you put into studying will be far less than all of the busy-work of taking the class the traditional way.
*** "I want to learn the material." -- Then take the test, get the credit, then get a real book on the subject. You need to develop the skills and determination to pursue a subject on your own, but you do not need extra junk-work.
** Those links ([CLEP!|http://www.nelnetsolutions.com/dod/DODHubPage.aspx?sponsor=12894&HubPage=9] and [DANTES|http://www.nelnetsolutions.com/dod/DODHubPage.aspx?sponsor=12894&HubPage=10048]) are the Magic Links that get you into the stuff Peterson's offers to DoD employees. It's the best way to study, and the account is easy to register. If you do well on the practice test, you will do well on the real test.
** Even if you do fail, all you have to do is wait for 6 months, ^[study!^], and then go back and pass it for free.
! "Request TA and Enroll in Course", a Pictorial Guide
Doing the TA transfer is the ugliest part of the process. I am sure hundreds, possibly thousands, of soldiers got so frustrated with it that they decided it was not worth it. Here's the whole deal. Start by going to https://www.goarmyed.com/
[http://panoptic.com/rking/file/up/GoArmyEd-1.png]
↑ Yay, you're in! This part is already tricky, because you have to use some username other than your AKO, and then the password requirements are actually more stringent than AKO's. I usually just use my AKO password twice in a row. Take that GoArmyEd.
If you get stuck, you can always have them email you your password.
[http://panoptic.com/rking/file/up/GoArmyEd-2.png]
↑ Find this chunk, and expand the "Enroll or Drop" section
[http://panoptic.com/rking/file/up/GoArmyEd-3.png]
↑ Then click the "Request TA..." link.
[http://panoptic.com/rking/file/up/GoArmyEd-4.png]
↑ Now you are in the Imp's Lair. I hate this, on principle. I recommend literally rolling up your sleeves. Perhaps put on some soothing music or something... I don't know what makes this tolerable if you have even a shred of self-respect or sense of design. There, I vented.
Click the "Search" button. Unlike every other search form on the web, this one you click Search before you input anything to search for.
[http://panoptic.com/rking/file/up/GoArmyEd-5.png]
↑ My suggestion is to just click the "Examples" link when it comes up. Have all the info about your course (its number (like "EN101"), what date it starts, its full name, and the Professor).
I think I find my course a different way every time I do it. Just keep taking stabs until it works.
After that there are still a few more glitches. There is one spot where you have to click on something like this: ☑ to select the course. Again, this is a first on the web. Everywhere else an empty box means, "Click me to select", and a ☑ means "Click me to de-select." Just pretend that they make sense.
I'm really negative about this interface in case that isn't clear.
Anyway, after you get to the end your school should soon email you a receipt of payment (takes about 2 days). The next step is to get that class syllabus and start getting ahead!
! General Advice
Be tough, and don't quit. It sucks sometimes, but you will make it.
Adapt & Overcome. I have had to do some bizarre tricks to make sure I got my work in on-time. Sometimes that's as simple as cramming and doing it in the week before a field exercise, but it can be done. And I did it in Afghanistan on a semi-crappy MWR setup.