Quality of Life: Off-duty Education Opportunities.
2000

I want to thank the Okinawa Marine Newspaper for the following information on education.   The following information sums up adult education for adults. 

The education center can help you to get a college degree, but they also offer other services for active duty military, family members and other SOFA personnel, including earning a high school diploma and administering Armed Forces Services Vocational Apptitude Batteries (ASVABs), and Scholastic Apptitude Tests (SATs).   The mission of the center is to provide opportunities to achieve education, vocational and career goals through counseling, testing, financial assistance and educational programs for active duty military members, families and other authorized individuals.   


 
What are the steps to sign up for off-duty education?
 A first-time student should make an appointment to talk to the guidance counselor. At that time, the counselor will explain what courses are available on Okinawa, what programs are available and then make recommendations on what to take. The counselor will explain all programs and the tuition assistance (TA) policy. There is a checklist to read before signing a statment about TA procedures and related obligations. The counselor keeps the checklist in a folder that tracks student's progress. 
What TA programs are available?
Marines can get 75 percent of tuition, up to $3,500 every fiscal year.  All the Armed Services have different TA policies for now, but in fiscal year 99 there will be a standardized DOD TA policy. Anybody can fill out a Pell grant application, which is based on last year's adjusted gross income. 
How does the base education centers assist in choosing programs? 
No matter what of degree you're planning for, you have to take a required amount of general education courses. Beginning level students, in their first couple of courses, should take an English class and a speech class. Those classes are going to help them in their military career as well as in daily living. We also advise they take something they are really interested in. As part of the initial counselor appointment, we will give you a course outline, and we will show you what you need to get for a degree. The more college a person has, the more difficult it is in evaluating the person. We want the person to reach his goal. The counselor will make a good educated selection , and tell you what courses you need to take to get the degree you want. In addition, the schools will give an official evaluation when you have six semester hours with the school. There academic advisors will then tell you what you need to get your degree.
OKIMAR:  What additional programs are available?
SHERROD:  A lot of people think that the education centers only offer college classes. We have a gigantic testing program. We have thousands of people who come in each year and take college level examinations such as DANTES subject standardized tests. If you score high enough, the schools will give you college credit. There are a lot of entrance level tests, SAT, ACT, ect., we administer. We also have a large military classification testing program. If people want to retake their ASVAB scores, they can retest.   If people want to apply for certain military schools, we can administer the Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB), as well as many different examinations.  We have the biggest high school program in the Marine Corps. the majority of our high school program are for adult family members. Because of a recent DOD policy, if you are overseas, high school tuition is 100 percent paid for. We want to give our spouses an opportunity to get a regular high school diploma. 
OKIMAR:   
How is it decided what classes will be offered, what school will offer it, and where it will be offered?
SHERROD:  We hold education surveys. Also, if a group of people want to have a certain program, we will research it to see if there's enough interest. Every term I tell the schools what courses I want. I get that from people that work at each of the bases. They tell me, and I submit it to the school officials.   We're finding that every base wants basically the same courses, which we try to offer in proportion to the number of Marines on each base. 
OKIMAR:  What choices do I have when picking a school to attend? 
SHERROD:  The schools here have an open door policy. If you're active duty or SOFA status, you can go to just about any school of your choice.  For the undergraduate level, we have the University of Maryland and Central Texas College. For the graduate level, we have Troy State, Michigan State, University of Maryland and the University of Oklahoma. 
OKIMAR:  How do students get to class if they don't have transportation? 
SHERROD:  Marine MWR has initiated an education shuttle bus, which will provide bus transportation service back and forth from classes on any base. That's one of the benefits of being part of Marine MWR.
OKIMAR:  What programs are available for students who work night shift or are often deployed?
SHERROD:  
We have over 150 different examinations that can be taken for college credit. We can give people who are interested information on what the test consists of. This is available in all Marine MWR libraries, and the education center has thousands of dollars of video tapes worth of information available.  For instance, if someone came in here and wanted to take the college level examination on Humanities, they can go to any Marine MWR library, take the appropriate book out, and study it. If someone wants to take the SAT exam, they can do the same thing. Every library, to include Fuji and soon the NTA, has these materials.   We have a Computer Aided Teleconferencing course (CAT). With it, you never have to go to class. Every time a MWR library is open, you can go in, check it out, plug it in to a CAT programmed computer, and do your lessons. Twice during a ten week period you have to take an examination at the education center, and you can get college credit.  If you're a shift worker, you can come in on weekends or mornings and study for these classes.   If you have problems we have a faculty advisor you can call and ask certain questions.   You can now get a masters degree over the internet with the University of Maryland. You have to have your own computer, though, with world wide web access (government computers and library computers are not authorized to do these programs). 
OKIMAR:  If I am dissatisfied in a school, class or teacher, what can I do?
SHERROD:   Put it down in writing and send it to me or the appropriate education center guidance counselor. As the quality assurance evaluator, I am the person who watches the schools to see if they are complying with the contract procedures and regulation.   We can modify contracts. In the past year, enough students wanted a certain master's program that we were able to modified the contract. The contract is flexible, and the school is flexible. If there are substantiated complaints about instructors, we can get rid of them. 
OKIMAR:  What should students do if a class they're interested in isn't offered on island?
SHERROD:  Come in and tell the guidance counselor, the education technician or me. Schools have to have a certain amount of students before they can offer a class, but if you want a class that's not being offered, you have to let us know. 
OKIMAR:  Can you explain the Satellite Education Network? 
SHERROD:  Right now, we have the equipment for the Marine Corps wide project, Marine Corps Satellite Education Network on Camps Foster, Courtney, Kinser and on MCAS Futenma, and we're in the final stages of installing it here. When it's up and running, this will give us the opportunity to have students here, but have the teacher in the United States. This will be used not just for colleges, but for unit training. 
OKIMAR:  When a student leaves Okinawa, will their grades transfer? How can they still obtain their degree from the school they went to here? 
SHERROD:  Grades will be transferable, but it is up to schools to accept grades. If you take a basic, general education course, you can safely say it will be transferable if you make at least a C or above.  What everybody should do, if they are in the military or a spouse, is seek a Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC)-contracted agreement. Once you meet the residence requirements of 25 percent of the total credits needed  
for a program, you can go to another SOC school and transfer all your credits back. That way you will be able to get a degree from the first school you went to. 
OKIMAR:  Do the education centers have any future plans to make it easier for people to continue their education? 
SHERROD:  I think we provide enough opportunity to get started, no matter what level you're at.  A lot of people want to get started, but are reluctant to take the first step.  Make an appointment with a guidance counselor and they'll explain the program.
 
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