END of the FREE EDUCATION!

Bad news for all military - especially those that did not take advantage of their tuition assistance.  Inside Higher Ed is reporting that budget cuts may require that military personnel pay up to 25% of their degree programs.  The budget cuts would affect over 300,000 students who are using TA.  It is not a done deal and there are other possibilities beside the 75%/25% split including lowering the $4,500 cap per year or lowering the $250 per credit hour.  But they need the cost savings so some hit is coming to tuition assistance.

This is yet another blow to for-profit schools which have already seen a sharp decrease in enrollments.

Cost Effective Courses

Great article in the New York Times called "A Way to Speed the Pace" about Straighterline.com - they provide online general education courses so that you can complete those courses at a much faster rate and lower cost.  The article states that you can complete your freshman year for about $999!  Pretty incredible savings.

But the greatest benefit may be to speed up your learning process.  You complete the courses at your own pace. So if you want to take a week and knock out your college algebra, you can.  When I was in the Navy, we had the first distance learning program in Florida (note - they sent us video tapes in the mail to watch - so cutting edge). Whenever the annoying want to hear himself talk guy asked a question, we could just fast forward. So awesome.

Straighterline is a great way for military members or their spouses get a jump towards the college degree and not worry about short term deployments or duty getting in the way.