Joining the Navy and going to college at the same time?

Question

Has anyone done it? Im considering it but from what I gather the college thing is "On your own time."

The recruiter told me I'd have more than enough free time for it but his job is to get me to join so I raised an eyebrow when he said that.

I guess my question is do you have adequate free time to go to school while you're enlisted?

If I enlist I don't want to work all day then have to decide between getting a few hours of sleep or doing schoolwork, any info would help me out, thanks.

Answer 1

College classes will always be done on your own time. I would not count on taking any classes for at least the first year you're in the Navy. There's basic training, A School or Apprenticeship Training, and when you get to your 1st command you'll have to become fully qualified, especially if you're assigned to a ship.

There are 3 things that will determine how much schooling can be accomplished: your job, where you're stationed, and your own motivation. Without knowing your rating or where you could get stationed, it's impossible to tell you how much free time you'd have for school. For example, if you go into an aviation rating that's working 12-16 hours (or more) on the flight deck of a carrier on deployment you probably won't feel like taking any PACE classes on the ship during your off time. On the other hand, if you have an admin job at a shore command you could possibly have enough free time to carry a full load of classes. You must remember being in the military and going to school is nothing like a civilian going to school. The needs of the Navy will always come first (as it should) compared to a civilian who can devote much of their time for school.

So, to answer your question, more than likely you will not have "more than enough free time" for school during your 1st enlistment and you will likely have to sometimes sacrifice sleep & liberty for school (this is where the motivation comes into play) and still be able to perform your duties. I'll give you a typical scenario: During your 1st enlistment you're on sea duty (assigned to a ship), you should be able to complete a few hours of school with online classes, correspondence courses, PACE classes, or if the ship schedule permits (i.e. the ship is in the shipyard for an extended period), maybe attend a local college. Once your sea time is over (this could be anywhere from 3-5 years depending on your rating), you reenlist for shore duty (normally about 3 yrs, again it depends on your rating & paygrade). Shore duty is normally a little less demanding than sea duty and this is where you can usually get a large part of your schooling done, either by actually attending class or doing it online. Then the cycle starts over again when you go back to sea duty. This isn't to imply you're situation will be like that, but it's common.

The education benefits while you're active duty are great, but it does come with a price, mainly that it will probably take you longer to earn a degree than it would as a civilian. Good luck with your decision.

Answer 2

If you're pulling shift work somewhere, then it'd be just like attend college while having a full-time job.  Only problem is, deployments and exercises tend to get in the way.  Good thing is, the local college on base will be pretty flexible if you have to miss a few days of class for work.  Just don't expect to pull 15 credit hours.