Will I be able to join the Marines and go to college still not knowing what to major in?

There are advantages to both joining the Marines straight out of high school and obtaining your degree prior to joining. You can obtain your degree while serving. This can be a slower process but could potentially save the Marine thousands of dollars in student debt. With a 4-year degree you can join the Marines a Commissioned Officer, for example a Lieutenant. It is important to understand the financial position that one might be in after High School and if attending college using financial aid, scholarships, and student loans is an option and once the individual joins the Marines there is the Student Loan Repayment Program for those who qualify entering the Military.

Let’s assume for a minute that you do not have the financial means or do not want to incur debt as a result of obtaining a degree after High School. There are many advantages to joining the Marines prior to college. Let us clear out some misconceptions about a College Education and the Armed Forces. A lot of what we see in recruiting commercials gives of the impression that we qualify for the GI Bill as soon as we join and can go straight to college using our GI Bill. This is simply embellished. Even Reservist using the Montgomery GI Bill-SR (Chapter 1606) right away do not realize that it only pays out around $384 a month towards College and affects their Chapter 33 Post 9-11 GI Bill benefits later on.

With so many changes to the Post 9-11 GI Bill, thanks to the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act and the rules of transferability, many of our Service Members are holding on to Chapter 33 Post 9-11 GI Bill to either transfer the benefits to their families or use the benefits to subsidize their income after transition. It is important to explore all the educational benefits afforded to our Service Members after they graduate their Initial Entry Training.  

So, the best advice I can give is to hold on to your Chapter 33 benefits and use them the way they were designed to be used at their fullest, after transition.

There are many options to go to school while in the Marines, for example tuition assistance which will pay up to $250 per semester hour of school for a total of 16 semester hours a fiscal year towards an Associate, Bachelor and Master’s Degree. This is a slow process especially for Reservists that rely exclusively on Tuition Assistance. Tuition Assistance can be used with the GI Bill (Top-Up), Scholarships and PELL Grant. What is great about this program is the fact that Tuition Assistance will always pay out first.

It is now up to the Marine to select a degree plan and school. There are many decision-making tools that will help with this. The first decision making tool that the Marine should consider is the Joint Services Transcript. This is a transcript that many Service Members do not realize they have. The American Counsel of Education has evaluated many programs within the Armed Forces and award recommended college credit that many colleges and universities take as transfer credits.

The second decision making tools that can be used is Department of Defense TA DECIDE. This website allows Marines to do side by side comparisons of college and universities that are Nationally or Regionally accredited that accept Tuition Assistance and have a DoD Memorandum of Understanding in place.

Other Decision-Making Tools are interest profilers like KUDER and O*Net that are free to Service Members that give the Marine a list of careers based off the answers to their interest profiler and degrees needed for those careers and schools that offer the degrees.

Another option to save on money while trying to complete a degree while on Active Duty is DANTES CLEP testing. This program is free for our Service members.

Finally, there are Military Education and Guidance Counselor located at every major military installation across the world. Military Guidance Counselors help place our Service Member on the right educational path based off their career and transitional goals and interests.

Joshua T Themann

Army Guidance Counselor

Fort Sam Houston, Texas

The answer is yes. You have the ability to do both. Many colleges offer online classes and majority of those classes are prerequisites. Colleges will help you with the schedule of your classes as well. As far as your major, you still have some time to figure that out.

Just keep in mind:

• Boot Camp is 13 weeks
• 10 days of Leave (used after Boot Camp)
• Marine Combat Training is 29 days
• Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) school could range between 3 months to a year

You will basically have to wait about 6 months for all training before going back to school. The College expenses you get from the military are good for 15 years after your Discharge Date.

Personally, I served in the Marine Corps from 2002-2008. I started my studies in 2008 and finished in 2012. I served in Iraq between the years of 2003 and 2006 . Because of international relations now, you should not have to worry about being deployed to a war zone.

Good Luck and Semper Fidelis