Back to School
So here's the huge news. When I get out (barring stoploss, April 21st, 2010), I'm going back to school. Illinois has a program known as the Illinois Veterans Grant. It pays for tuition and fees for any Illinois public college for service members who are Illinois residents. I can also collect my Montgomery GI Bill benefits while using the grant. The gist of it is I have four years of free school and enough money to probably not have to work. I'll put the rest of what I know in question and answer form.
Q. Are you... ?
A. No, we're not moving back to Springfield. The grant pays for any IL public college and I think it'd be wasteful for me to use it all at the Springfield schools when I can get a more diverse education elsewhere and still not foot the bill. To put it this way, if I can get UIUC to accept me, I'm going there so we'd be moving to Champaign-Urbana. UIUC has some kind of quota for war heroes it needs to fill in it's student body, right?
Q. What about re-enlistment and the Army and 'Merica and freedom (insert guitar riff and fireworks)? If you get out, the terrists win!
A. At the end of my enlistment I'll have served my country for six years. I've seen what we do overseas and I don't like the path we're taking or the path we could be on should McCain get elected. The Army is a pretty sweet job if you're enjoying a comfortable lifestyle in the states but the deployments aren't going to end any time soon (or ever, beyond Iraq) and they're unpleasant to say the least. I can respect those who chose to dedicate their lives to this job but it's not a choice I will make for any reason. A career with the Army is just not for me.
Q. How long will you be in IL?
A. Well, that depends. I'm getting paid for up to four years of full-time schooling and that can be undergraduate or graduate level. I've got plenty of credits right now, I've got more from my Army experience, and I plan on taking classes while I'm enlisted so I'll be pretty close to a degree when I get out. I'll finish that degree and either go for a masters or doctorate or I could get another degree but I don't think I'll call it quits until I've gotten at least a couple years of school done. I'd hate to leave IL without taking full advantage of the benefits I've earned there.
Q. What are you going to major in?
A. Fuck, I don't know. I know computers. I can always do computers. But I'm kind of getting burnt out on computers and I'd hate to get a degree and then get a job and instantly hate it because I've already fried myself with this computer job. I'm considering other fields of employment. One's that involve being in less servitude than tech support slave. There's better jobs out there and I've got an opportunity to choose my future. I'm considering commercial flight.
Q. What's the catch?
A. I can't find one. It sounds like there should be a catch. The Illinois Veterans Grant is explained here and it sounds pretty clear-cut. Equivalent of 4 years of tuition and fees at any Illinois public college and you can also collect GI Bill benefits. I qualify for the new Post-9/11 GI Bill and all those details are here. This one's slightly murkier. From what I read, I'll get a monthly BAH equivalent to my current rank based on the zip code of the school, $1000 yearly for books, and as far as I can tell they'll match the tuition and fee the IVG pays, which makes that money free to use as I wish. If I'm attending a school as expensive as UIUC, those GI Bill benefits could be enough to live on without working. The BAH covers my house payment, the GI Bill covers groceries and bills. In a good college town, I could feasibly stop driving and bike everywhere. My whole goal here is to do what I should've done right out of high school; get in a good school, do some school work, get a degree, and not work myself out of it in some menial job that goes nowhere.
Q. Okay so you've made these life changing decisions. What's next?
A. When I get back, I need to talk to a cousellor at the on-post education center about this plan. If it pans out, I'll be applying to schools immediately so I can get a location nailed down. Get out of the Army, sell the house, buy a new house, move, wait for school to start. That's all post-Army stuff. In the meantime I'll still be taking online courses and working to get my GPA up so I'm more attractive to prospective schools. But come on, who wants to say no to a war hero?
Q. What about after you decide you're finished?
A. When I'm done with school Katie's going to throw a dart at a map and that's where we're moving. I can guarantee that dart won't hit Illinois. We're kind of itching to see more than the midwest.
Q. So Springfield...?
A. ... Is still out of the question. We'll visit lots, promise.