New GI Bill’s Impact on Education Industry
The Post 9/11 GI Bill has had a shaky first semester, to say the least. Stories from military personnel like the Army of Dude are not at all uncommon and active duty, reserve, and veterans alike scramble to find some kind of sanity in the middle of the financial aid delirium. First semesters for programs usually have hiccups in them, and once these issues are ironed out, the new GI Bill will have a long-term positive result on higher education.
Some of the long-term positive effects include: more military members in high-level, corporate jobs; increased enrollment and diversity in military-friendly online schools, like American Sentinel University; and more military recruitment and retention as prospective students and families continue to pursue financial benefits from military service.
But the largest impact of the Post 9/11 GI Bill on higher education, Inside Higher Ed predicts, is the types of education military students pursue. Statistics show that most military students were fulfilling their higher education goals at the community college level, rather than at state 4-year colleges or private colleges. Higher Education writes:
In 2007-8, veterans and active-service military members made up only 4 percent of undergraduates enrolled in American institutions of higher education. Of that group, 43 percent attended community colleges, 21 percent attended public four-year colleges, 13 percent attended private four-year colleges and 12 percent attended for-profit institutions. The rest attended more than one type.
Jim Selbe, assistant vice president of lifelong learning at ACE, believes that military members were not only attracted to community colleges because of the more appealing price, but because they were more likely to encounter other adult learners at the community college level.
With the increased financial aid now available from the Post 9/11 GI Bill, this is expected to change. Not only will other college options, such as military-friendly private colleges like Saint Leo University, be more viable options for veterans financially, but they will also become havens of other military adult learners as the overall enrollment of military personnel in higher education spikes. Hopes are that more military members will be able to pursue higher levels of education that are congruent with their previous military experience, such as a master degree in criminal justice.
This is not to say there’s anything wrong with community colleges; they are an astounding foundation of knowledge for a community of young learners. For military students, however, military-friendly colleges should be both a rewarding and attractive alternative when looking into their future education.
