Balancing Life and Education While Being a Part of a Military Family: A Guide to Navigating Higher Education for the Military Spouse

Military spouse education is an often overlooked topic. With the proliferation of service member programs and benefits, and the spotlight on them, it is not uncommon for spouses to neglect looking into their own educational opportunities and benefits. The hectic life of a military family also often complicates the process of attending an institution of higher education, for spouses. There are numerous programs and benefits that a spouse may have access to, but they are difficult to find and navigate properly.

Balancing Life and Education While Being a Part of a Military Family: A Guide to Navigating Higher Education for the MilitarySpouse attempts to highlight these possibilities and inform and assure this population that attaining an education is possible regardless of location or current circumstances. Numerous programs and benefits are described, as well as the best way to go about using them. Detailed instructions are illustrated to make the process of obtaining an education easier and to give spouses more confidence in pursing their own education. In addition, the specific considerations of military family life are addressed along with these instructions.

Education is really important, and a lot of times military spouses aren’t aware of the opportunities and resources available to them to pursue it. The authors of From theNavy to College: Transitioning from the Service to Higher Education and From the Army to College: Transitioning from the Service to Higher Education have put together a clear guidebook will make the process easy, accessible, and understandable. They offer clear advice and information about resources available to spouses of service members, creating a go-to guide for pursuing higher education.

Jillian Ventrone is a higher education counselor for service members aboard a federal installation, working with Marines and their families to help them transition to education or to other professions. She is the go-to expert for professional advice for service members and dependents who want to successfully transition into higher education. She writes for the base Education Newsletter monthly and has articles published in the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Consortium publication and the Military Press Magazine.

Paul Karczewski has lived in Army communities for the majority of his life. After growing up the son of an Army career NCO he chose to give back to the same community that had helped shape the person he is today. He jumped at the opportunity to work with service members in a variety of downrange locations as an Education Counselor and instantly knew he wanted to continue to serve soldiers in this capacity. Once coming back home he now guides transitioning service members in navigating the often complex and confusing world of higher education.

Robert W. Blue has been a civilian education and career counselor for the military since 2001, working in the San Diego area on Navy and Marine Corps bases providing higher education services to Marines and sailors of all ranks, from junior enlisted to admiral. He has been responsible for setting up college programs, including classroom instruction, on dozens of U.S. Navy ships. His duties have included marketing, writing, and editing education newsletters for four different bases. Counseling one-on-one or in large group formats, he assists sailors, Marines, and dependent family members with pursuing their higher education goals. Before his career as a civilian educator for the military, he served 24 years with the U.S. Navy. For most of that time, his assigned duties were as a military career counselor and an educational services officer, helping sailors pursue vocational certifications and college programs through stateside bases, overseas duty stations, or on ships in the fleet. The U.S. Navy assisted him in attaining a United Services Military Apprenticeship Program Department of Labor certificate in counseling, an associate’s degree, and a bachelor’s degree. Through the GI Bill, he also obtained two master’s degrees completed aboard military bases.