First step toward educational goals

When it comes to transitioning from military to civilian life or improving one’s current career, there are steps that can be made that many don’t know about.

The two education centers at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia have the resources to point individuals in the right direction. 

Both education centers provide the College Level Examination Program and the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support. CLEP and DANTES are tests that if passed, earn credits toward educational goals without taking a class.

Langley Education Center

The Langley Education Center helps provide the opportunity and information for Airmen to work on their Community College of the Air Force, associate’s, bachelor’s, and/or master’s degree.

“Our main goal is to enable Airmen to develop their sense of organization, analytical skill, and earn a degree that’s going to help set them up for their time after the military,” said Jeff Jager, Langley Education Center chief of education and training.

The Langley Education Center also provides tuition assistance, professional guidance counseling and manages testing programs for professional military education such as, career development courses and language testing.

The Air Force assists Airmen with their education by paying tuition assistance for service members at $250 per semester hour, up to $4,500 a year.

On average, The Langley Education Center helps by providing $5.4 million in tuition assistance per fiscal year. The center helps individuals get in contact with 12schools in the area and 127 across the U.S.

“They should know, but many don’t seem to know that we are here to sit down with them and map out where they go from basic training to whatever their end goal is with education,” said Jager. “It’s not just to help them determine what school to go to or what degree they might want, but we can also provide them a road map.”

For more information call the Langley Education Center at 764-2963.

Herb Bateman Army Education Center

The Herb Bateman Army Education Center located at Fort Eustis, Virginia provides tuition assistance and career guidance counseling for Soldiers, families, and civilians.

Like the Langley Education Center, the Herb Bateman Army Education Center assists by paying tuition assistance for service members, at $250 per semester hour.

“We help them get started on their career,” said Annette Whitaker, Herb Bateman Army education center director of education. “When a Soldier first comes in, we help them setup all their information on the internet.”

If a Soldier is unclear about their career or classes they wish to take, the center can provide the Kuder assessment, which helps choose the classes or career the individual may enjoy.

“Education is important, period, because everything you do entails the use of education,” said Whitaker. “Even if it’s just on your job, you still need education of some sort.”