by Jim Sweizer
Vice President, Military Relations – American Public University System
Many of you have undoubtedly participated in an inspection of some kind during your military career, whether an Inspector General (IG) inspection, staff assistance visit or safety inspection. However, I suspect that few have heard of an inspection system that evaluates the effectiveness of education programs on military installations — the DoD Third- Party Education Assessment.
Considering the Department of Defense (DoD) spent over $567M in Fiscal Year 2012* in support of the tuition assistance (TA) program, it stands to reason that both DoD officials and budget gurus on Capitol Hill would be keenly interested in the success, and return on investment, of this top quality- of- life program.
Scrutiny of pricy federal programs is nothing new and the current focus on the cost and quality of education programs on military installations can be traced back to the 1970’s. In 1978, Stephen Bailey, a Harvard professor and former vice president of the American Council on Education, was concerned with the proliferation of non-traditional programs on military installations and requested a grant from the Ford Foundation to study the problem. He subsequently surveyed 44 college programs on 13 military bases. During his visits, Bailey observed a dichotomous system and characterized the state of off-duty education in the military services as, “a potpourri of exciting fulfillments and shoddy ripoffs; rigorous standards and credit giveaways; careful supervision and no supervision; dedicated academic counseling and dreadful (or no) academics counseling.”**
The “Bailey Report” became the foundation for change in military education. It paved the way for DoD and the military branches to provide better oversight of installation education operations through the establishment of assessment programs such as the Military Installation Voluntary Education Review (MIVER), the Quality Education System (QES), and the modern-day DoD Third- Party Education Assessment.
So why is this important to you? As a former retailer used to proclaim, “an educated consumer is our best customer.” This should be the rallying cry for every DoD and school official involved with educating our military community. . It’s really a two-way street. You, as a student-consumer (especially if you’re a new student), need to comprehend the intricacies of pursuing a degree program, funding options, and the ramifications of not meeting obligations under the TA program. Schools, in turn, must be truthful in advertising, refrain from using high-pressure sales tactics, be fully transparent and, most importantly, counsel students for success.
Programs like the DoD Third-Party Education Assessment keep it all in balance. These assessments ensure both DoD officials and schools serving the military work harmoniously to provide in-depth counseling services, first- rate customer service, and quality education programs to help servicemembers, veterans and military spouses achieve their educational goals.
Many people are working behind the scenes to help preserve TA benefits and ensure you receive the best education possible. The military voluntary education program remains the best option out there…takes advantage of it now!
* Defense Activity for Non-traditional Education Support, FY 2012 Voluntary Education Level Fact Sheets http://www.dantes.doded.mil/Resources/EdLink.html#FactSheets
** S.K. Bailey, Academic Quality Control: The Case of College Programs on Military Bases (Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education, 1979), p.2
About Jim Sweizer:
Jim Sweizer served in the Air Force for over 33 years as a Guidance Counselor, Education Services Officer and Chief of the Voluntary Education Branch at HQ USAF. He is also the former President of the Council of College and Military Educators (CCME), the largest professional educational organization serving the military community. Mr. Sweizer earned a B.A. degree in Psychology from Minot State University and an M.A. in Education from North Dakota State University. He is a graduate of the Air War College non-resident program and Harvard University’s Institute for the Management of Lifelong Education (MLE).
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