A mind is a terrible thing to waste

  • Published
  • By Capt Kris Zhea
  • 305th Security Forces Squadron
MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. (AFPN) --  Each year thousands of people make New Year’s resolutions to improve their life in some way. Usually the resolutions end up being forgotten about, laughed at or buried under numerous excuses as to why they weren’t attained.

Well this year when you are sitting around the TV watching the big ball drop in Times Square and celebrating the ringing in of the New Year, make a resolution to get smart. Get smart, you say? Yes! Get smart! It is painless and requires no money, no long lines and no holiday return hassles. In fact getting smarter will actually pay you!

What I mean is, make a resolution to take advantage of the education benefits afforded to you in the military. Currently, the military Tuition Assistance Program is paying tuition costs and mandatory fees for up to a maximum of $250 per semester hour, or $750 per three-hour course. The current program includes a $4,500-per-year tuition assistance ceiling. This program is commonly referred to as 100 percent T.A.

Personally, over the past 14 months I have used this program to pay for more than $16,500 worth of graduate level instruction. That’s a nice down payment on a new car! Or, put another way, that’s 1,375 new CDs at $12 a piece! In that time all I have paid for was books.

Have you ever heard the expression “the value of a book is measured in degrees?” Here’s where this new resolution, getting smarter, will pay you back.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau report, "Mean Earnings of Workers 18 Years and Over, by Educational Attainment, Race, Hispanic Origin, and Sex: 1975 to 2002," the mean income in 2002 for a person with a high school diploma was $27,280. Compare this to mean incomes of someone with some college or an associate's degree, $31,046; someone with a bachelor's degree, $51,194; or someone with an advanced degree, $72,824.

The message is clear, the more educated you are the greater your earning power is. This is true in the military too. Having your education will help you get promoted, get commissioned or get that dream assignment you always wanted.

There is an old recruiting slogan that states “nine out of ten employers are looking for people with skills the military teaches.” The future job market looks bright for us in the military, but it won’t be that bright without your Community College of the Air Force , associate’s, bachelor’s or master’s degree to go along with all those skills you picked while serving in the military.

“A mind is a terrible thing to waste” and so are your military benefits. Take advantage of this great program and make your New Years resolution to, “Get Smarter!” It will cost you practically nothing, only your time, and will pay you unforeseen dividends down the road.