Free Master's Degree, Teaching Certificate For Vets

Veterans across the nation have a promising new employment opportunity, thanks to funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs and an online platform that offers teacher training and certificates. The VA is offering to pay full tuition for veterans for the program, known as the TEACH-NOW Graduate School of Education.

Vets work in a plethora of fields, just like civilian counterparts. They’re of different political beliefs, economic classes, interests and abilities. Vets have a wide range of skill sets. Unfortunately, some of these skills aren’t exactly useful in the civilian world.

But one thing is true for arguably every veteran: Driven by a sense of purpose, they want to continue serving.

Dr. Emily Feistritzer, a former nun who founded TEACH-NOW, found this to be true in her research, she told Patch. She did studies of the Troops to Teachers program in the late 1990’s and in 2005 and found that veterans make great teachers.

There’s “no question about the fact that veterans make outstanding teachers,” Dr. Feistritzer said. “The feedback from school heads and their students is overwhelmingly positive. Veterans reported high levels of satisfaction.”

A recent study by The Guardian found that of 41 states surveyed, 28 states are experiencing teacher shortages. Pair that with nearly half a million vets looking for jobs, and there are bound to be some vets who’ve got what it takes to accept the vital mission of educating the nation’s kids.

It’s not just veterans who can use this opportunity. Tuition for active duty service members, reservists, military spouses and service members’ children is covered by the VA. TEACH-NOW got approval from the VA for funding in April 2017. The VA covers tuition and offers money for housing costs.

In the seven years it’s been running, the program has graduated about 1,250 teachers internationally. They aim to go into overdrive and train 10,000 teachers within the next four years.

Each instructor in TEACH-NOW leads a cohort of 10 to 15 students “using a collaborative, activity-based online program,” the website says.

Put simply, the reason veterans want to teach is that they want to serve, Dr. Feistritzer told Patch.

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