Military and Veterans Resume Writing Workshop

The workshop will focus on each participant producing a high quality resume and a cover letter and having an understanding of conducting a civilian job search in the new economy. 

The workshop will assist Military, Veterans and Spouses with writing their resume and learning how to convert their military experience into civilian terms and how to present the soft skills essential to succeeding in a civilian workplace.

Lessons will include  the different forms of a resume and how to craft an individual resume that highlights strengths. Job searching for veterans will be covered. How to access the county, state and federal veteran’s career resources will also be covered. Setting up and creating a job alert on a jobs board such as Monster, Indeed, etc and the 7 steps to writing a dynamic cover letter.

The workshop will be presented in the Bryant & Stratton College Malta Extension site at 2452 State Rt. 9, Suite 201, Malta, NY, 12020 on Saturday April 18th from 10am-1pm.

RSVP by email to Kkdean@bryantstratton.edu by April 12th, 2015 to ensure a seat. Seating is limited due to the time constraints of working with participants to produce a resume and cover letter.

Pizza and refreshments will be provided.

The Value of a College Education

Everyone attending college hears the quote “People with a bachelor’s degree earn a million more dollars over their lifetime” but what does this really mean. A recent nationwide analysis of degree data by Zaback & Crellin, (2012) shows that people who receive a bachelor’s make more than 71% than those with a HS diploma. That study also broke down the wage increase by field which is more helpful when considering what to major in. The two highest paying fields are Science/ Technology /Math (STEM) and Health care and this is true for both bachelor’s and associates degrees.

Another common myth is the Bill Gates story that if he doesn’t need college then you don’t either because college costs are rising. While, college cost have risen well over 200% so has the gap in income between those that attend college and those that don’t and the unemployment rate for college grads is significantly lower than those without college. In statistics, we measure things using the bell curve and it’s assumed that 95% of people fall into the same category. Bill Gates does not fall into the 95% of the population. Actually, a study by Wadhwa, Saxenian & Siciliano (2005) showed that of 500 startup companies founded those started by college graduates performed better than those started by someone with a HS diploma. The knowledge that a college education imparts is critical thinking and learning how to structure your thoughts along a proven framework based on hundreds of years of research by scholars and researchers.

Yes, college costs have risen dramatically and this is why researching the right major and school is so critical to transitioning to a college environment. If you’re planning on attending college and unsure of the economic value of a major then a good place to start researching is http://live.sheeo.gotpantheon.com/resources/publications/economic-benefit-postsecondary-degrees

Scholarships for Military Children Program

The Defense Commissary Agency business partners and others are in the 12th year of awarding scholarships and in 2012 more than 600 scholarships were awarded for a total of a million dollars.

Only dependent unmarried children under age 23 of active duty personnel, reserve/guard and retired military members, or survivors of service members who died while on active duty or survivors of individuals who died while receiving retired pay from the military, may apply for a scholarship.

Recipient must be enrolled or planning to enroll full-time in a four-year undergraduate college or university or students attending a community college must be enrolled in a program of studies designed to allow the student to transfer directly into a four-year program accredited in the U. S. They must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 basis. The minimum GPA requirement applies to both high school and college students.

The scholarship provides for payment of tuition, books, lab fees and other related expenses For more information please see: http://www.militaryscholar.org/sfmc/application.html

Scholarship for Military and veterans

The deadline of January 5th is rapidly approaching for the Department of Homeland Security’s Scholarship. The scholarship is for students who believe their degree program supports the DHS mission of securing the country and preserving our freedoms. The student must be enrolled in a major or concentration in any of the following areas:

Advanced Data Analysis and Visualization
Biological Threats and Countermeasures
Border Security
Chemical Threats and Countermeasures
Communications and Interoperability
Community, Commerce and Infrastructure Resilience
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Explosives Detection, Mitigation and Response
Food and Agriculture Security
Human Factors
Immigration Studies
Infrastructure Protection
Maritime and Port Security
Natural Disasters and Related Geophysical Studies
Risk, Economics, and Decision Sciences
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Transportation Security

For more information please go directly to the website at: http://www.orau.gov/dhsed/

Military Spouse Benefits Updates

Military Spouse Education Benefits Program Reopens but Restricted


D.O.D announced that the MyCAA program will start taking new enrollments on Oct. 25th, 2010. There have been some major changes to the program since its inception with DOD reducing the tuition amount, only approving up to an AS degree, and restricting the program to junior enlisted/ officer spouses.

The military spouse career advancement program is a Department of Defense (D.O.D) program that pays for associate’s degrees, certifications and licensure programs leading to employment in portable careers.

Only spouses of an active duty Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine service member, or activated Reserve member in pay grades E1-E5, W1-W2, or O1-O2 is eligible. There is a maximum amount of $4,000 per spouses with a $2,000 a year cap on funds.

To get started the spouse must establish an account at https://aiportal.acc.af.mil/mycaa.The spouse must have an established and approved career goal and have an approved degree program.

To apply for the program a spouse must call a military OneSource consultant at 1-800-342-9647 to create a career plan and academic goal. The program only covers tuition up and it does not cover fees and other costs.

The program is sponsored by the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy and the program is designed to decrease the stress of Permanent Change of Duty Stations (PCS) on military families.

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FINRA Certification Spouse Scholarship

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation's Military Spouse Fellowship offers free training each year to spouses of active-duty or retired Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Army or Air National Guard or reserve component servicemembers.
Fellowships are awarded by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and spouses can earn the Accredited Financial Counselor™ certificate. The program covers the enrollment fee, study materials, webinar study sessions and two attempts at each examination for the two required courses.
Interested spouses should have an interest in financial education, be able to complete 400-2000 practicum hours, and have the time to study online for the exam.

The Accredited Financial Counselor™ certificate requires the coursework, two exams and the practicum to be completed in order to be certified.

The program started in 2006 and is a partnership with Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education® (AFCPE®) and the National Military Family Association (NMFA). After accreditation spouses provide services as financial counselors at variety of settings in both the U.S and overseas.

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation is the largest foundation in the United States dedicated to investor education

Currently the scholarship is closed however spouses can sign up for an alert of when the program opens up for next year at: http://www.militaryfamily.org/get-info/support-family/spouse-employment/financial-counselor-fellowships.html

References:
http://www.saveandinvest.org/Military/SpouseFellowships/index.htm
http://www.finrafoundation.org/sai/index.htm
http://www.militaryfamily.org/get-info/support-family/spouse-employment/financial-counselor-fellowship-faqs.html
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The Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarships

The Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarships program is sponsored by the National Military Family Association and the scholarship of up to $1,000 is awarded to spouses of Active Duty, National Guard and Reserve, Retirees, and Survivors. The scholarship can be used for tuition, fees, and room and board for any of the following programs:

 GED or ESL
 Vocational training
 Professional certification
 Post-secondary
 Graduate school
 In-class or on-line
 Full-time or part-time

The program opens for enrollment for 2011 on December 1st and enrollment will be open until January. The scholarship is only for a year and must be reapplied for each following year.

For more information please sign up for the email news alert letter from The National Military Family Association at: http://www.militaryfamily.org/publications/enewsletters/enewsletter-sign-up-1.html

References:
http://www.militaryfamily.org/
http://www.militaryfamily.org/our-programs/military-spouse-scholarships/
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New Tax Laws for Military Spouses

Military Spouses can keep their home state for tax filing purposes, regardless of where the family is stationed. The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act says the non-military spouse can now retain the same home state of record/state of residence as the military spouse, as long as the non-military spouse’s sole reason for leaving that state was due to a permanent change of station (PCS) for the military spouse. For more information contact the Base Jag/legal office.


References:
http://www.af.mil/news/story_print.asp?id=123181621
http://www.military.com/finance/taxes/tt/military-spouse-residency-relief-act-and-state-taxes.html
http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/kb/state-taxes/state-issues/1274.html

The Veterans' Benefits Act of 2010

The Veterans' Benefits Act of 2010 has been passed by congress and hopefully will be signed into law by the President. One important section that is pertinent to military post secondary education representatives is the Pat Tillman Scholarship Initiative. The V.A will be required from 2012-2014 to keep an updated list of scholarship available to military and veterans. The list would be required to be online by June 2011.

Hopefully, the term scholarship is defined appropriately because to often savvy market driven colleges will offer a “scholarship” that is nothing more than small reduction in an already high price tag.

There is a list of scholarship to the right of this article for military, veterans, and spouses. There are also links to scholarship programs in the articles on this website at:

http://elearnking.blogspot.com/2010/03/pat-tillman-american-hero-has.html#links

http://elearnking.blogspot.com/2010/02/free-college-for-ny-veterans-and-gaurd.html#links

http://elearnking.blogspot.com/2009/06/scholarships-for-military-children.html#links