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