College pitfalls p1 - Military - Education Strategies and Tips - Military Times EDGE

When former Navy Corpsman Christy Jacks started struggling with calculus at Colorado State University, she had no idea that finally asking for help would be the most important lesson she would learn.

“I didn’t want to reach out for help, because it would mean I couldn’t meet the challenge,” Jacks said. “In the service, if you could not meet a challenge, that affected your career.”

Ultimately, the 30-year-old liberal arts major sought out a CSU tutor, whom she would see three times over the course of the semester for help with calculus. And although she earned a B in the class, Jacks admits the course likely would have been easier had she gone for help sooner.

Education experts agree. In fact, they cite early intervention as key to overcoming just about any higher-education obstacle you might encounter, from a failing grade or trouble with a professor to an unexpected midsemester deployment or lost GI Bill paperwork.

Not making the grade

Bruce Solheim, 50, could write the book on persevering in college. Today, the former Army chief warrant officer is a history professor and volunteer veterans coordinator at Citrus College in Glendora, Calif. But Solheim’s Ph.D. didn’t come easily; he was on academic probation at two institutions before figuring out how to succeed at school.

His advice if you find yourself struggling to understand, or even failing, a class? Talk to your professor — the sooner, the better.

“Most professors want to help you, but don’t wait until the end of the semester to present a problem,” he said. “The opportunities for you to get support are limited.”

Admit your struggles early, and your options to turn around a failing grade are much better. Professors, academic advisers and — at a growing number of institutions — veterans services offices exist to help you get to the root of your problem, whether it be a previously undiagnosed learning disability or wartime injury, trouble keeping up with class readings, or difficulty understanding subject matter.

Ann Ingala, military veteran coordinator at Colorado State University and an Army veteran, recalled one student veteran who set up an appointment with his math professor about how to use his calculator.

“The professor was making assumptions that the class knew how to use this complex calculator. [This student] didn’t. Kudos to him for setting up an appointment,” Ingala said. “To be successful, that’s one of the things you have to be willing to do.”

Once a problem is identified, solving it is often the easy part. Maybe it’s as simple as finding a tutor or withdrawing from a course to avoid a failing grade, then retaking the course during the summer at a community college, Ingala said. Perhaps it’s getting tested for a disability, then, if one is diagnosed, working out with your professor a plan for the way you learn and take exams.

Too much, too soon

Taking a single class you don’t understand and facing the threat of a failing grade is stressful enough. But also perilous to a student’s academic well-being is taking too many classes at once and becoming overwhelmed by the magnitude of the work.

“Oftentimes, [veterans] want to make up for lost time,” said Bruce Holzschuh, veterans services coordinator at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minn., and a former Navy Seabee. “They see their buddies have graduated and gotten on with their lives, and they want to make up for this time.”

Holzschuh advises students it’s always better to start out slow — a point with which Solheim agrees.

“You have to build up your tolerance and your ability to juggle your schedule,” Solheim said. “There is a certain skill set that you need to develop to survive in college.”

Realizing you need to reduce the number of courses you’re taking is not an admission of failure. And if you’re too far along in a semester to drop a class that has you overburdened, it’s always better to withdraw from the course than risk a failing grade, the experts agree.

Derailed by deployment

Deployments, temporary duty, call-ups and training are challenges unique to the student service member, and, if handled incorrectly, they can completely derail one’s academic journey.

Holzschuh’s advice? See an adviser as soon as you know you are leaving.

When orders come in, the focus turns to what the student service member has to do to prepare for that, Holzschuh said. If a student leaves school without telling administrators, grades become incompletes, incompletes become F’s, and the student returns to a discouraging academic mess. Although even this can, ultimately, be straightened out in the student’s favor, Holzschuh said, planning is better.

As with other potential education pitfalls, possible solutions to facing deployment are varied. At Metropolitan State, for example, a student facing deployment may choose to do a retroactive withdrawal, basically acting, Holzschuh said, as if his course registration never happened.

Completing remaining coursework through independent study is a consideration for students who already have finished a significant portion of a course’s requirements. And schools with an active online program may allow deploying students to complete their courses via the Internet.

“There are many options, and combinations of options, that can work for students,” Holzschuh said.

Still, students with the best intentions may find themselves up against challenges beyond their control. Solheim recalled when, during his active-duty days, he went on TDY. Informing his instructor of his orders right away, he was able to complete his coursework early — coursework for which he received an A. At semester’s end, however, he received a B for the course, because his TDY had violated the professor’s attendance policy.

“I just realized that some people don’t understand,” he said. “You can’t expect to get out of doing the work, but veterans have to be given some flexibility.”

If you encounter a situation in which a professor seems uninformed or unaccommodating about your military orders, look for an advocate on campus who can step in and help, Solheim said.

Benefits gone AWOL

Ingala encourages military students not to panic if a delay or mix-up in their tuition benefits or financial aid appears to threaten their education.

Again, “talk to people. See what your options are,” she advised.

While it intimidates students to see late charges piling up, Ingala said, most schools have procedures to waive late fees for military benefits. And many student financial aid offices have emergency resources to provide short-term financial help for students whose benefits are delayed.

“If they are not going to talk to people, they are not going to find some of that out,” Ingala said.