With all the for-profit predatory schools still in existence today, how do you separate the good ones from the bad? The ones that exist only to make money from your GI Bill and drown you with expensive college loans?
There are several things to check, but for a quick initial look consider these 3 things when looking for a cybersecurity online course:
- Accreditation
- Veteran Support
- DoD Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
Cybersecurity Accreditation
Of course, the very first step before anything else would be to ensure the school teaches a cybersecurity course that would fill your career goals in this rapidly expanding field. Having checked that box, next look at how the course and school are accredited and by whom.
Typically, accreditations usually come either from a nationally-recognized or regional agency. It is important to check both course and school because there are schools where the institution is accredited, but not all its courses. And ensure you know what kind of accreditation your industry recognizes. It does no good if you have a degree from a nationally accredited agency when your chosen industry only recognizes regional accreditation. Do your homework first so that you know which accreditation you should look for when considering a cybersecurity degree.
However, in the cybersecurity field, there is yet another check to make that sets these cybersecurity courses apart from all the rest. If the program in question is certified as a center of academic excellence, an approval by both the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security, you can check that box as the course being legitimate and one of the best you can get.
Veteran Support
Next comes finding out how the school supports its GI Bill students. Look around their website and if you can’t find the answers, ask the questions by contacting the school. In particular ask:
- “As a school, what things do you do for GI Bill students?” (priority enrollment?)
- “How do you help GI Bill students navigate through the enrollment process?” (One-stop shop?)
- “What student support programs do you have in place where GI Bill students (online or on campus) can go to get help?” (in house Veteran Support Group or Center/chat room/Student Veterans of America chapter?)
After getting answer to the above questions, find out:
- Can online coursework be done anytime or are their fixed class periods?
- Do they accept credit for military experience?
- What is the maximum number of college or prior experience credits that can be transferred in?
DoD Memorandum of understanding
You can rest assured too that a school having one of these MOUs is legitimate. To date, more than 2,000 schools have a signed Department of Defense (DoD) Memorandum of Understanding stating they will:
- Provide enhanced education opportunities and certain protections to service members, veterans, spouses and other family members.
- Recognize credit for military training, occupational specialty experience (as it applies to a degree program), examination credit, and other sources of prior learning and transferable credits.
Many of the schools on DoD MOU list were schools in the former Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) network where credits from one SOC school would transfer in full to another SOC school. Many of the former SOC schools still honor this transfer policy as part of their DoD MOU.
The takeaway is in this world of predatory post-secondary education, it is easy to get duped into spending your GI Bill entitlement and end up with a worthless degree (and a lot of unanticipated student loan debt.) Due your due diligence and look for at least these 3 things when initially considering an online cybersecurity degree. In Part Two, we talk more about centers of academic excellence and Cybersecurity Defense (CD) designations.
