50 most popular colleges p1 - Military - College News and Information - Military Times EDGE

Last year, more than 350,000 service members found time to pursue a certificate or degree using tuition assistance from their service’s voluntary education program.

They enrolled in courses at approximately 2,100 universities, school systems and training courses as varied as the Casey Son Horseshoeing Clinic, Luther Seminary, the Virginia School of Hair Design and Harvard University. But the majority of troops attended just a handful of schools: Fifty institutions account for almost 79 percent of students using TA, and the top 10 enrolled 50 percent of those students.

Much of this overwhelming popularity can be attributed to where these schools and school systems are located — or not located. Four of the top 10 most popular schools have no classrooms at all, at least of the walled variety. The remaining six boast dozens of campuses, many on military installations, as well as substantial online offerings.

Service members are flocking to these options. In fact, 71 percent of voluntary education courses in fiscal 2009 were distance learning courses, up from 64 percent in 2008, according to a snapshot of the four Defense Department services presented by DoD’s chief of continuing education, Carolyn Baker, in February.

The most popular schools have made themselves convenient in other ways as well. Eight of the top 10 schools and systems — and 41 of the top 50 — are or include core or affiliate members of the Servicemembers Opportunity College Degree Network System, a system of schools that guarantee two-way transferability for many courses.

The top 50 schools among troops using tuition assistance

The following 10 schools top our list, based on tuition assistance enrollment data from the Air Force, Army, Army National Guard, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

1. American Public University System

This private institution, comprising American Public University and American Military University, tailors many of its degrees to the military community. Troops have responded: Its tuition-assisted course enrollments jumped 40 percent from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009.

2. University System of Maryland

This state system has 11 universities, but 99 percent of its tuition assistance users go to one school: University of Maryland University College. UMUC offers courses online, but it takes pride in bringing teachers to the troops, with locations at more than 100 installations.

3. Central Texas College

An open-enrollment community college near Fort Hood, Texas, CTC tops the TA list for the Army and Army Guard. It first offered classes at Hood in 1970 and now caters to service members around the U.S., in Europe, the Pacific and afloat. Depending on a student’s rank and military occupational specialty, he may be eligible for up to 49 hours of credit toward an associate degree.

4. University of Phoenix

The online education giant processed more military transcripts in 2009 than any other school, according to the American Council on Education. Phoenix discounts its online undergraduate tuition for active-duty and reserve service members — and their spouses — to match the maximum amount allowed for tuition assistance: $250 per credit.

5. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Naturally popular with airmen, Embry-Riddle also pulls in quite a few students from the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard with its degrees in aviation maintenance, transportation and technical management. It offers classes online and at 170 locations.

6. Park University

Park University, in Parkville, Mo., has locations at about 30 military installations. A memorandum of understanding with Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., allows students there to transfer up to 15 credit hours toward one of five master’s degrees.

7. TUI University

TUI, an online-only university, is a member of the SOCNAV and SOCMAR Degree Network System through the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges. Its tuition-assisted course enrollments jumped 20 percent in fiscal 2009, from 28,955 to 34,929.

8. California Community Colleges

This enormous system includes 112 colleges, but more than half of its active-duty military students attend Coastline Community College. Coastline, which participates in the Navy College Program for Afloat College Education, ranked third among sailors using TA in fiscal 2009.

9. Grantham University

Military students who have used their full TA allotment at this online institution can take one additional credit hour at no additional cost for every $1,000 of TA paid. Course enrollments among active-duty troops jumped 66 percent in fiscal 2009, from 17,273 to 28,650.

10. Columbia Southern University

More than half of the students at this online university are members of the military. Columbia Southern prices its credit hours so military students can complete seven undergraduate courses or six graduate courses a year without exceeding the TA maximum of $4,500.

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Methodology

To create this list, we requested tuition assistance data on students, course enrollments and funds from the Army, Navy, Air Force (including active-duty Air National Guard), Marine Corps, Army National Guard and Coast Guard. We then combined the lists and grouped named college systems together to determine which schools served the most tuition assistance users in fiscal 2009.

The 1,359 students who received TA through the Army Vocational/Technical Soldier Program, a pilot program to pay for training that is not normally eligible for TA, were excluded because their enrollments were not broken down by school.

In four instances involving seven students, service officials were unable to distinguish between schools with the same name by press time.

The top 50 schools among troops using tuition assistance