College during Active Duty?

[CJames97]

Hello Marines. My name is Cameron James. I am a Poolee in the DEP program, enlisted May 18th, 2015. My ship date is June 13, 2016, and I am signed on to an 0600 Communications Contract.

I see lots of Marines talk about college while in active service. I know that many things in the Corps transfers as college credit, such as boot camp and MOS school. My question is how realistic is it to be able to take online classes at your permanent duty station? Also, what would happen if a Marine was deployed while they were working on their degree? And lastly, what Majors would anyone recommend to someone based on their experience? I would appreciate the help and advice anyone can offer!

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[josephd]

It will mostly be based on what kind of unit you go to as a comm guy and secondly how dedicated you are to doing the classes on your off time when all your Marine buddies are out drinking or at the gym working out

If/when you deploy you could either continue the classes online overseas(if possible where you go) or drop that semester. The school would be required to let you out of the classes if you went overseas, you may not get the $$ back though depending on how far into the course(s) you are.

your major is strictly personal and based on what you would like to do if/when you get out of the Corps.....I am a business/marketing and sports management major, it struck me as interesting when I was selecting a specific major a few years back. business major's as a whole are probably the best option(in my opinion). You can get a specific degree in accounting, finance, marketing, supply chain, etc....but when it comes down to it you can work in any business field with any type of business degree

[LCPL1341]

1) Chances of taking college courses at your duty station: This would depend on the Op Tempo at your unit as well as several other factors. The opportunity to take college courses will be there for you and your command will give you certain guidelines to abide by when taking said courses so it doesn't interfere with your actual job. That being said, If you have a typical 5 days work week with a 0500-1700ish workday, you can knock out several online courses and work towards a degree. It'll depend largely on your motivation and persistence though.

2) I have yet to deploy so I won't speculate. Someone who's been in this situation should be along to assist with this question.

3) Only you can decide what's best for you and what you have an interest studying. However, if I had to recommend a certain major or types of majors, I'd advise you to pursue a STEM degree (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). People with STEM degrees are in high demand in the civilian world as far as careers go. STEM related careers are the future of our job market. Understand that this isn't a specific degree, but rather, a group of academic concentrations encompassing any or all of the above fields.

[CJames97]

Thank you Marines. As always, your help is greatly appreciated!

[Tennessee Top]

I am an example it can work. I completed both my AA and BS degrees while on active duty (and before online classes were available). Many factors came into play like, being assigned to non deployable/base units, having commands that actually backed-up their claims of supporting off duty education (not all commands do), etc. It was never easy and required sacrificing a LOT of liberty time, swapping duty NCO on class nights, losing credits that would not transfer to different schools, juggling tuition assistance, etc.

My BS degree is in aviation management - never worked a day in the aviation industry. Decided to go into healthcare instead as it's much more stable. Worked in healthcare for 15 years. Never laid off and got at least a 2.5% pay raise every year (sometimes more depending on our patient satisfaction surveys). People still get sick, shot, wreck their cars, etc no matter what the economy does. But, some healthcare facilities still go out of business due to mismanagement and the effects of Obamacare are still being monitored.

Point is. It is possible but won't be easy and many factors will have to align just right for it to work out. Also possible things will not line up for you so it will not work out.