There are many routes to graduate school, but all of them are rewarding – especially if you’re able to take advantage of grad programs without having to spend all those years on campus. Just ask the veterans who make it through — and the schools who set the challenges.

Ensign Tony Stinson joined the Navy in 2001 as a limited duty officer in anti-terrorism, physical security and law enforcement. It was a program that didn’t require him to have a degree. In the late 1980s he’d left Purdue after a year, when his money ran out, and joined the Air Force for seven years, earning an associate’s degree along the way. But he quickly learned that, in the civilian world, such two-year degrees don’t take you very far.

Better Your Career
Once in the Navy at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor and living in Silverdale, Washington, the 36-year-old ensign decided he wanted to finish his bachelor’s degree to better his career.

“Then I couldn’t stop,” he says. “I’m just about done with my master’s.”

The Indianapolis native got his bachelor’s degree in general studies from Indiana University entirely online while stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He knew Indiana had a reputable, affordable school program, and he was able to pay in-state tuition. He needed only 10 classes to complete his course of studies, and he got them done at his own pace – in 10 months.

“I’m a little biased,” he says. “I’m a Hoosier through and through. But the program is great. You’ve got a whole year to finish a class. And if you don’t have access to a computer you can do it by correspondence.”

Henry S. Merrill is chair of the Adult and Continuing Education Department and associate professor of adult education at Indiana University’s School of Continuing Studies. He says most students in the Master of Science in Adult Education program are already in human resources development or workplace learning in corporations, government, health, military, and nonprofits. They want to learn the theory and practice of being teachers of adults.

There are about 75 students in the program, and few are in the military like Stinson. Most in the military have trained others on equipment, machinery or procedures, he notes, and those who join the Indiana program “have found that they liked (training others) and are good at it and say, ‘How do I go on to a career with this?’ The ones that I have worked with have done very well.” While classes have events requiring simultaneous student participation, such as online chats, even these are archived for later access.

Capstone Portfolio Required
Several years ago, the degree program began requiring a capstone portfolio of each student. Students assemble papers and projects from their entire degree and combine them into a presentation. “This is a piece you can obviously take to employers as a career portfolio,” he notes, though of course Indiana uses it as an assessment tool as well. “The students have found it to be a very powerful way to integrate what they’ve been learning, reflect on it … and help continue planning for where they want to go with their careers.” Tony Stinson has some plans for his own degree.

Promotion Potential
“Obviously, there’s promotion potential,” he notes. Since, his Navy enlistment program didn’t even require a degree for entry, few are selected to be officers from within that program. With a bachelor’s he can make O-4 (lieutenant commander). With a master’s degree, he can make O-6 (captain). “The Navy is very appreciative of those getting their degrees,” he says – so much so that the Navy lets him take leave and go home to Indianapolis for the three-day on-campus class his degree requires, without even charging him for leave.

Portability and Convenience
From his station in Europe, Maj. John C. Mateer pursued a doctoral degree the best way this F-15 fighter squadron commander could imagine – online, through the University of Phoenix. He says he chose the national online education provider for reputation, portability and convenience.

Mateer earned his bachelor’s degree from the Air Force Academy in space operations, and has since received three master’s degrees: in education (adult and higher learning) from the University of Oklahoma; in leadership from Bellevue University; and in science (national security studies) from the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island

Online Doctorate Degree in Three Years
Phoenix online doctoral programs are designed to be completed in approximately three years, with all courses taken sequentially in eight-week modules. While students attend residential workshops in Phoenix, Arizona, for eight days in the first and third years, and for three days in their second years, the online classes can be completed any time around the clock.

Mateer plans to continue on in the service and become a consultant upon retirement.

“We are deploying more often to remote locations and make permanent change of stations almost as often,” he notes. “Because of the online option, there are no excuses these days for failing to achieve a degree.”

Top universities like Stanford have long offered distance education, and veterans are taking increasing advantage of such top-flight offerings.

The Stanford Center for Professional Development, part of the university’s School of Engineering, offers graduate degrees, individual courses and programs in engineering disciplines — including engineering management — as well as professional development programs for engineers and technology professionals. Most of these courses and programs can be accomplished part-time and online. The Center has also recently begun waiving its membership fee for those associated with the military, making it a boon for help in preparing the transition to a civilian career.

A Bridge to Industry
“We’re the bridge to industry,” says Paul Marca, the Center’s executive director. “That includes military as well. We’re trying to listen to industry, consult our faculty … and evolve programs that meet the need.”

The Center offers credit courses toward a master’s degree via the university’s Honors Cooperative Programs.

Non-degree student options — often for those who already have a terminal degree but want to stay up to date — include courses for which individual faculty vet potential students. This is most popular Center offering, leading to certificates in computer security, for instance, or in international security from the political science department. Auditing courses is also an option, for those who want to latest information but cannot commit to homework or projects.

The Center also has a professional development component, including the Stanford Advanced Project Management Program, a professional education certificate connecting strategy and execution. When “it’s your job to deliver the goods,” Marca says, “It’s our job to help companies and individuals make that happen.” Eight members of the military have completed the six courses required to become Stanford Certified Project Managers (see http://apm.stanford.edu).

In addition, this side of the Center offers three certificate possibilities: systems engineering, strategic decisions and risk management, and computer security, the latter two of which are brand new. There are also free seminars by Stanford faculty and local industry offered online, of which about 100 members of the military have taken advantage so far, on subjects such as “Human-Computer Interaction, Guidance,” “Navigation and Control,” and “Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders” (see: http://seminars.stanford.edu).

All of these courses and programs, both academic and professional, are originally available on campus, then converted quickly to online. NASA uses some of Stanford’s courses in this manner. The Center sees up to 7,500 students a year.

“Stanford is an extremely competitive environment,” says Marca. “It requires a special student to maintain pace with the Stanford students. That’s pretty challenging, given the commitment of time in the military. Nonetheless we’re trying to create an opportunity for the best and brightest to take courses at a distance. We feel if we’re creating the opportunity at Stanford we’re doing the right thing.”