JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO RANDOLPH, Texas -- Some people join the Air Force to further their education but sometimes their journey can take a whole other path.
“I started college and didn’t have a route that I wanted to go down, so I enlisted to learn a skill and have time to make up my mind for what I wanted to do in the future,” said 2nd Lt. Ryan Garrett, a newly
commissioned officer assigned at Joint Base San Antonio during an interview last week.
The Air University - Associate-to-Baccalaureate Cooperative program helped Garrett complete his baccalaureate degree. Soon after he transformed his stripes to a gold bar.
“I heard about the AU-ABC program through an NCO that happened to be using the program. I went on to the Air Force Virtual Education Center, checked out the link and started looking into it. I looked at a few different schools. I decided which one suited me best. I applied and that was the start of the whole process,” said Garrett.
The AU-ABC program was created to provide baccalaureate degree opportunities to Community College of the Air Force students and graduates that maximize military credit application. This program targets active duty Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members.
AU-ABC covers graduates of all CCAF Associate of Applied Science degrees. Currently more than 200 baccalaureate degree programs are available in a variety of disciplines.
“The biggest benefit was that the CCAF AAS degree guaranteed 60 credit hours,” Garrett said.
Like other Airmen, Garrett’s deployments and permanent change of station moves made completing a degree difficult.
“I had moved multiple times and the schools never transferred all the credits. They always wanted me to start over or this class didn’t match theirs. Just having the benefit of guaranteeing at least 60 credit hours in those category 1 programs was a huge benefit.”
AU-ABC is one of many programs available to Airmen to further their education and earn their baccalaureate degree.
“The first step, if you’re interested in any education, is to go to your education office. They know the new programs, and can get you the information you need for them,” Garrett said.
He said that there are programs where he was able to finish using tuition assistance without using his GI Bill.
“I still have that for later as well,” Garrett said.
For more information on the AU/ABC program, go to this website and click on the “AU/ABC” button on the right. http://www.airuniversity.af.mil/Barnes/CCAF/ or stop by your Education Center.
| Date Taken: | 05.08.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2017 15:11 |
| Story ID: | 233047 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 853 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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