The Litvak Legacy

The Army Civilian University was established last year by Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. George Casey Jr. as a direct answer to several studies recommending greater access to education for the Civilian Corps. When they signed a memorandum approving Army Initiative 5 to “accelerate leader development,” they created Army Civilian University. 

For Army civilians – and for the Army as a whole – this is very good news, said ACU President Jim Warner, who has a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard. He also served as deputy commandant of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., before retiring from the Army as a brigadier general.

“We want to provide a system that enables all civilian employees to reach their aspirations and their potential,” Warner said about Army Civilian University.

In the past, the Army relied strictly on career programs to chart the training path of civilian employees, Warner said.

And while civilians have Army universities to go to, Army Soldiers have a number of online civilian universities they can attend – all with the financial support of the Army. And so just as the Army is making sure that its civilian employees have a place to go for higher education and training, they are also ensuing that their Soldiers – eventually bound for the civilian world – have access to civilian university education programs while they serve.

In addition to traditional brick and mortar universities that offer online degree programs for Soldiers, a new crop of accredited online universities have sprung up that specifically work with service members, catering their degree offerings and student support to the realities of life in the service.

The main way that the Army helps their enlisted Soldiers take college classes while they serve is Army Tuition Assistance (TA). TA is a Soldier benefit that provides up to $4,500 a year in money for education at accredited vocational programs, community colleges and universities. And the best part of the program from the Soldier’s stand point is that the Army pays the schools directly – Soldiers pay nothing out of pocket.

The value of online universities that are military friendly is twofold. First, an online degree program means that a Soldier can study from anywhere in the world as long as he/she has access to the Internet and a computer. Second, military-friendly universities are familiar with Army Tuition Assistance paperwork and understand that an unexpected deployment may interrupt a Soldier’s studies. Most online universities are very accommodating and will make arrangements so a Soldier can take care of his military responsibilities first.

For married Soldiers, the advantage of an online, military-friendly university is that they often have military spouse scholarships or military spouse discounts, which can really contribute to the educational and career goals of military spouses.

When researching an online university, investigate the website carefully, talk to fellow Soldiers and ask a lot of questions to admission representatives.