August 2010 Newsletter
Military Benefits
Continuing our ed2go Marketing series, in this issue we will introduce you to a variety of military benefits that Veterans, Active Service Members, Reservists, and Spouses have available for training and education. With fall fast approaching, now is the time to consider working with the military programs to increase your ed2go enrollments!
We Are Here to Help.
ed2go maintains a full-time Military Tuition Assistance and Veterans Benefits Office that is available to you for assistance. Some of you may be overwhelmed at the thought of working with all of the military programs. You may be wondering how you can possibly help military students. Do not worry! We’ll provide you with information on how to get started with these programs and help you tap into a market with high enrollment potential!
Our Military Specialist, Haywood Gordon will walk you through all you need to know and assist you in getting started. Webinar dates can be found on the webinar tab of the newsletter.
Let’s look at some of the highlights of what programs are available:
The Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30), also referred to as VA Benefits, is the most well-known, yet least understood benefit. This Bill is for Veterans, Reservists, and Active Duty Military. The MGIB program provides up to 36 months of education benefits. This benefit may be used for both certificate programs in addition to degree, apprenticeship/on-the-job training and correspondence courses. Generally, benefits are payable for 10 years following the release from active duty.
To give you the basics, while schools can not immediately accept GI Bill funds, they can certainly refer students to us and we’ll give the school a “referral” fee when the student enrolls at an approved school!
If you’re interested in going through the rather intense approval process, read on! Schools wanting to get their programs approved for the GI Bill need to build their own website and treat the programs as their own. They need the staff and willingness to promote and process courses for GI Bill approval. The actual GI bill approval is a small part of the entire process. To learn details about the entire approval process, plan on attending the GI Bill webinar or call Haywood Gordon with any questions about the GI Bill!
Reservists and the National Guard members are also eligible for the GI Bill called The Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve (Chapter 1606) (MGIB-SR) and they’re prime targets for enrollments! This covers members of the Reserve elements of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and the Air National Guard. The MGIB-SR program can also be used for certificate programs in addition to those listed under the MGIB program.
The MyCAA program is one of the easiest programs to get involved in, and it does not require students to take credit programs. The MyCAA program allows spouses of Active duty military members around the world to enjoy a benefit that a select group of spouses in 8 states previously benefited from. The Department of Defense has set aside up to $4000 for spouses to use and ed2go is directly approved. This benefit allows military spouses to train in portable careers.
The MyCAA system (AI Portal) allows the user schools to view approved vouchers, invoice for enrolled MyCAA students, receive payment information, and report student grades all in the same electronic system.
Whether the spouse is in need of one specific program or several related ones, ed2go partners can assist them.
The Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance (Chapter 35) provides educational assistance to spouses and children of veterans who died or are permanently and totally disabled as the result of a service-related disability. This program provides education and training opportunities to eligible dependents for up to 45 months. As with the other military programs, certificate programs are eligible for this benefit.
The Armed Forces offers soldiers, sailors, marines, guardsmen, and airmen several programs to support their education goals including up to 100% Tuition Assistance for college courses, vocational training, and certificate programs taken during off-duty hours. Each service has its own criteria for eligibility, obligated service, application processes and restrictions. This money is usually paid directly to the institution by the individual service.
This is the easiest program to manage and can really help you spike those enrollments! Plus, most of the ed2go Career Training Programs are ‘approved’ and a good fit for military Tuition Assistance! There is no lengthy approval process or list for students. The military student simply goes through the approval process and receives their voucher to present to a school
Our Support
Our Military Tuition Assistance and Veterans Benefits Specialist, Haywood Gordon is available to assist you with military leads, provide you with benefit sign up information, advise potential students on eligible benefits, and much more! Haywood holds regular webinars on each of the military programs and is also available for one-on-one counseling.
We hope you found this information helpful.
Webinar
On Tuesday, August 10 we will be holding a webinar to provide additional details. The webinar will be held at 10:00 AM Pacific/12:00 Central/1:00 Eastern. In addition to describing the various programs, we’ll also look at the marketing collateral pieces available and show you how to put these to use! And we’ll clear up any confusion you might have about the referral process.
This webinar will be repeated on Thursday, August 12 at the same time listed above. As always, contact your Account Manager if you have any questions. Hope to see you at the webinar!
We are happy to announce a newly designed ed2go-Pro.
ed2go-Pro gives you the ability to target your business and professional markets for the specific purpose of attracting and retaining business customers. The Pro catalog is customized to include all of the ed2go business related titles; however you still have the flexibility of creating your own custom catalogs.
Pro sites make it very easy for partners and companies to enroll multiple students at once. Passcodes, a unique feature of ed2go-Pro, are purchased by the company up front from you. Passcodes are used by the student during the enrollment process to gain access to their course.
The newly designed Pro contains features that allow you to leverage customized training opportunities with companies and organizations in your area. The new Pro platform is designed with an emphasis on co-branding; enabling both participating parties to incorporate their logo, giving it a dual face. Co-branding is the perfect solution for you and companies who want customized online training options for their employees.
New Features
Some of the other great new features of the redesigned pro include:
- Custom messaging on your home page, which allows you to further target the individuals who will be enrolling and taking courses through the Pro Online Instruction Center.
- New, simplified course navigation
- Enhanced course search feature
- New business and industry geared banners to help you create a customized look and feel for the students using the site
- Step-by-step enrollment instructions to better assist students and businesses
Working with Pro
Do you already have great relationships with companies and organizations in your area or looking to develop these relationships? Once an ed2go-Pro site has been created for your institution you can begin approaching businesses in your area with the idea of online training. We provide you with all of the marketing materials and support you will need for this recruitment process. Our newly designed ed2go-Pro marketing templates can be found under the Marketing tab on your Online Administration Center or you can click the link below.
Webinar
Please stay tuned for an upcoming email with more information regarding the ed2go-Pro webinar presentation which is being held on Tuesday, August 17th at 10:00 AM PST/12:00 Noon CST/1:00 PM EST. If you can't attend the presentation on the 17th we will also be repeating on Thursday, August 19 at the same time.
For those already utilizing the Pro platform, please visit your ed2go-Pro Online Instruction Center to check out the great new look and features. If you are not currently offering ed2go-Pro, please contact your Account Manager for information about how to get started. Also, please mark your calendars for the upcoming webinar presentations.
Thank you,
