Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship

The Department of Veterans Affairs just announced it will begin accepting applications for the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship from surviving spouses of military personnel who die in the line of duty after September 10, 2001. Before this change only children of those who died in the line of duty were eligible for this benefit.

The Fry Scholarship will enable eligible spouses up to 36 months of the full Post-9/11 GI Bill which includes a tuition-and-fee payment and monthly housing allowance. Some spouses currently eligible for or already receiving benefits under the Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance program may now be eligible for the Fry Scholarship.

For more information regarding the Fry Scholarship, call 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551) or go to the VA GI Bill Website: http://gibill.va.gov

how to find a job as a veteran



Persistence

 Two major veteran reports came out this week and both show that veterans are struggling to find jobs, keep jobs and that they need more assistance with transition to the workforce. The first study was done by the respected USC school of Social work that works with veterans found that 80% of veterans leave the military without a job. This trend is particularly disturbing in light of the recently revamped transition process for those people leaving the service.


The second study was by the highly prestigious Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families. The University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families study found that more than 65% of veterans leave their first civilian job within 2 years and that the jobs don’t match their military skills sets. The combination of these factors is well known in the veteran’s community and while the studies are helpful for policy makers veterans needs help in these critical areas. Here are three takeaways that any veteran can use immediately to help with a job search.



1. Hire a professional.



2. Talk to everybody



3. Be persistent



Hire a professional because everyone looking for a job in today’s tight job market should use a staffing and recruiting professional to review their cover letter and resume. When a pipe bursts in your house you call a plumber because he has the tools and expertise to fix the problem in a reasonable time frame. Well recruiters are the plumbers of the job world because they see a lot of resumes and they know what companies are looking for and what to avoid. A good example is the objective section on a resume. This outdated piece of resume advice almost always states the person wants to work in specific career field instead of showing how the person’s skills can add value to a company. An updated resume is a powerful tool in today’s ultra-competitive job market.


A 2010 survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 70% of jobs are found by networking. Most high quality jobs are found by recommendations and by effectively using a network. Keep a list of the people you have contacted and use Facebook and LinkedIn to contact all your family friends and coworkers and ask everyone for one referral. Sitting at a computer filling out the millionth job application gets tiring but cross referencing the contacts from your LinkedIn network with employers that are likely to hire you is likely to have far better results. Create a rubric for the job search that has the name of the company, how the job lead was found, and who was contacted and add a column for veteran contacts. Maintain the rubric and keep track of which companies you hear back from because this will give an idea of what type of employer is interested in your skill set and you can specifically target this type of employer.

Persistence according to the Oxford dictionaries is “the continued or prolonged existence of something”. I work with a lot of veterans and it’s a common complaint that employers don’t value military service. Here are the links to each local,state and federal agency that directly helps veterans find employment:

Locate and contact the veteran’s rep within the Federal Department of Labor. http://www.servicelocator.org/
Locate and contact State Veteran’s representative. http://www.longtermcarelink.net/ref_list_state_county_veterans_service_officers.htm
Locate and contact county level veteran’s representative. http://nacvso.org/find-a-service-officer/


Most employer surveys show that that they just don’t understand military service because they haven’t served and don’t speak the same language. It’s crucial to meet with the people who are on the front lines helping veterans find and keep jobs such as the county veteran representative, the state veteran’s agency, and the local department of labor veteran’s rep and to stay focused and positive.

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

Military Members Qualify for Student Loan Forgiveness

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 created a new public service loan forgiveness program for military members with federal student loans. The servicemembers must have made 120 payments over 10 years while in the service in order to have the loans discharged. Since the program was only enacted in 2007 all payments must have been made after Oct. 1, 2007 and the earliest date to have your loans discharged will be Oct. 2017.

Military service is one of the qualifying jobs and the service must have been full time as defined by the College Cost Reduction and Access Act which for National Guard members means that they must be “full time” National Guard as defined by section 101(d)(1) and (d)(5) of title 10, United States Code. In order to have the loans discharged the student must be working in a qualifying occupation at the time of discharge and there other jobs that count towards the requirement.

Public service jobs other than the military that qualify for the program are jobs with federal, state, and local government organizations, teachers, first responders (police, fire, EMT), public librarians, social workers, public defenders, and those employed at public schools and colleges.

The program covers federal Stafford, Grad PLUS, or consolidation loans as long as they are in the Direct Loan program however it does not cover Parent PLUS loans or private student loans. The federal Direct Loan program is a federal program where the college becomes the lending agency and manages the funds directly, with the federal government providing the funds. To determine if your loans are in the Direct Loan program and for questions please call the Direct Student Loan program at 1-800-848-0979. If the federal student loans are NOT in the Direct Student Loan program than they would have to be consolidated into the program in order to be eligible for forgiveness and this can be done at the federal website for consolidation at http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov.

Qualifying payments are payments made through Direct Loan Program in any of the following payment plans, the Income Contingent Repayment plan, Standard Repayment plan and the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan.

Because this is a new program students should keep W-2’s for the ten year proving qualifying work experience for the ten year time period as well as a record of student loan payments that can be verified. More information will be available as the Oct. 2017 date approaches, for updates please visit the Direct Loan Center at https://www.dl.ed.gov.


References:

1. http://www.finaid.org/loans/forgiveness.phtml

2. http://www.ibrinfo.org/what.vp.html

3. https://www.dl.ed.gov/borrower/BorrowerWelcomePage.jsp

4. https://www.dl.ed.gov/borrower/contactUs.do?BORROWER=1

5. http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-24922.pdf

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/

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

Free I.T Training for Vets

CompTIA Educational Foundation offers transitioning U.S. veterans the opportunity to take for free any of its seven certification courses. Veterans must apply for the program at: http://www.comptia-ef.org/training/futures.aspx.

The CompTIA Educational Foundation provides veterans with the funding and training to help enter the information technology industry.

The following certifications are eligible for the program:

Certification Courses
CompTIA A+ ®
CompTIA Network+ ®
CompTIA Server+ ™
CompTIA Security+ ™
CompTIA Convergence+ ™

Certificate Courses
CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals
IC³ Global Standard 3 (GS3)

A thousand people have already taken advantage of the program and currently work in the I.T industry. CompTia is a leader in the I.T industry which is heavliy driven by certifications.

The median annual wage for Network and Computer Systems Administrators is $67,000 a year which is more than double the U.S. median wage. According to the Department Bureau of Labor Statistics overage the next 10 years this career field will increase by 30% which is far more than the national average.


References:

http://www.comptia-ef.org/training/futures.aspx.

http://www.bls.gov/oes/2009/may/oes151071.htm

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos305.htm

Free College for N.Y Veterans and Gaurd

N.Y State recently announced that combat veterans and N.Y State Guard members are eligible for free college at any of the S.U.N.Y colleges. This program allows officers and enlisted to attend SUNY for free up to a master’s degree.

There are simple rules. You must have the served in a combat zone and you must be a NY state resident. Eligible veterans can receive 98% of tuition or $4,287.50, whichever is less, for full time study at the State University of New York. Questions regarding eligible service or how to document service should be directed to the HESC Scholarship Unit at 1-888-697-4372. For more information please go to http://www.hesc.com/content.nsf/SFC/2/Veterans_Tuition_Awards

The basics are that if you have deployed as under one of the following conditions then you are eligible:

Vietnam Veterans who served in Indochina between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975.
Persian Gulf Veterans who served in the Persian Gulf on or after August 2, 1990.
Afghanistan Veterans who served in Afghanistan during hostilities on or after September 11, 2001.
Veterans of the armed forces of the United States who served in hostilities that occurred after February 28, 1961 as evidenced by receipt of an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Navy Expeditionary Medal or a Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal.


This program brings N.Y State in line with many of the other states that have recognized the extraordinary sacrifices that combat veterans have made to their country.

According to the US Census Bureau, the average earnings for a bachelors degree is $54,000 and for a masters degree it is $79,000 or so therefore earning a college degree but in particular an advanced degree can go a long way towards closing the economic gap for veterans.

For more information for NY state Combat veterans go to the NY Division of Veterans Affairs.