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College sometimes seems like an unattainable option for students with disabilities.  In the video "Consider College: Planting Seeds for Your Future," college students with disabilities say otherwise.  These college students share their experiences and encourage younger students with disabilities to consider college. It IS attainable.  There are supports available.

Consider College! You can go to college too!
Note: Please use the close captioning feature for subtitles.

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UMD Center for Transition and Career Innovation

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Consider College: Planting Seeds for Your Future

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Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's have similar graduation requirements.

4 credits of English
4 credits of math (Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, and an additional math class)
3 credits of science
3 credits of social studies
1 career and technology credit
1/2 PE credit
1/2 health credit
1 fine art credit

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Take a virtual tour of all 2 and 4 year colleges in Maryland!

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DIVISION OF REHABILITATION SERVICES (DORS)  Pre Employment Transition Services

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DIVISION OF REHABILITATION SERVICES (DORS)  Pre Employment Transition Services

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College of Southern Maryland Virtual Open House

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College of Southern Maryland Virtual Open House

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Job Corps is the nation’s largest career technical training and education program for young people ages 16 through 24. Established in 1964, Job Corps serves approximately 60,000 young people each year and takes pride in its diverse student population, welcoming all who qualify.

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Job Corps is the largest free residential education and job training program for young adults ages 16-24. We connect you with the skills and education you need to get the career you want!

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The College of Southern Maryland is a regionally-accredited community college, delivering quality higher education programs in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's Counties in Southern Maryland. CSM also provides programs and services with a special focus on local workforce development to maintain and grow a healthy economy and community.

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Enlisting in the military or commission as an officer?

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Enlisting in the military or commission as an officer?

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he biggest factors that go into your military experience are which branch you join and whether you enlist or commission as an officer. In this article, we’ll be going over some of the differences between officers and enlisted personnel across the five branches of the military.

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I know a lot of veterans who based their military careers on whichever recruiting office they walked into first. That's one way to go about signing your life away to Uncle Sam, but it's not what I would recommend. The military is a major commitment and will probably affect the rest of your life, whether you serve for four years or forty.

The biggest factors that go into your military experience are which branch you join and whether you enlist or commission as an officer. In this article, we'll be going over some of the differences between officers and enlisted personnel across the five branches of the military.

We'll cover everything from pay and benefits, mission execution to culture.

How to Join

Qualifications for enlisting in the military:

Be a U.S. citizen or resident alien

Meet the age and fitness requirements

Have a high school diploma

Pass the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test

For each branch, enlisted personnel begin their military experience with a form of boot camp. It is a strenuous introduction to military life, from the medical in-processing to the physical training to the hazing discipline. After about eight weeks of boot camp, enlisted personnel will receive their first duty assignments (probably at a job-specific training location) and they'll be ready to actively serve in the military.

Qualifications for commissioning in the military:

Be a U.S. citizen or resident alien

Meet the age and fitness requirements

Have an undergraduate degree

Complete an officer training program

In order to earn a commission into the United States military, officer candidates must complete an officer training program. Two options for cadets without college degrees are to attend a military academy, such as West Point or the Air Force Academy, or to join the Reserve Officer Training Corps while attending the qualified college of their choice.

Academy cadets and ROTC cadets will learn about the military while completing their undergraduate or graduate degrees. Half-way through their studies, they will attend a summer boot camp, much like the enlisted boot camps except that cadets will already be expected to meet physical fitness and academic requirements. For officer candidates, boot camp is the rite of passage that will elevate cadets to the leadership fundamentals portion of their training.

Once academy or ROTC cadets graduate and receive their degrees, they commission into active duty and receive orders for their first assignment, which, like enlisted personnel, will probably include a job-specific training.

A third route to becoming an officer is to complete an Officer Candidate School (or Officer Training School, depending on the branch). Cadets who already have college degrees will undergo a three-month training program that includes military academics and leadership training as well as boot camp. Once complete, OCS/OTS cadets will commission just like academy and ROTC cadets.

Missions

Enlisted personnel make up 82% of the military. They are primarily responsible for carrying out military operations. The remaining 18% are officers, who are responsible for overseeing operations and enlisted personnel.

Officers will have a head-start on managerial experience, commanding personnel at the mid- to senior-level corporate executive level. They hold a commission from the President of the United States, a position that comes with more authority and responsibility.

Enlisted personnel, however, are the subject matter experts. They will have the hands-on application of the mission and as they rise in rank they will also rise in leadership authority and experience. Enlisted personnel are also expected to continue their education while on active duty and many earn degrees and vocational training that can translate to a civilian career after their service.

Mission requirements and experience will vary depending on your military career and assignment location. A career in cyber operations might mean the mission is conducted over the internet, where the officer's role is to aggregate information collected by enlisted personnel. A career in the infantry might mean that an officer is coordinating weapons and targets as enlisted personnel fight in combat.

That being said, there are certain career fields only available to officers or enlisted. A prime example: Air Force pilots are officers.

Pay Tables

Officers will start out at a higher pay grade than enlisted personnel, though enlisted service members are eligible for a variety of bonuses that can be quite substantial. Officers will also receive higher benefits such as monthly Basic Allowance for Housing. You can see from the charts below, however, that year-for-year and promotion-to-promotion, officers tend to make about twice as much money as enlisted personnel from monthly basic pay alone.

Monthly rate of enlisted basic pay

Monthly rate of officer basic pay

Education

Let's say you want to serve in the military to help pay for college.

Veterans (enlisted and officer) who meet qualifications are eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, a program that will help pay for college classes or an on-the-job training program after military service. The Post-9/11 GI Bill includes tuition and BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) assistance so it's a major benefit when veterans transition back to civilian life.

But it's not precisely equal for everyone.

According to the VA, "If you have at least 90 days of aggregate active duty service after Sept. 10, 2001, and are still on active duty, or if you are an honorably discharged Veteran or were discharged with a service-connected disability after 30 days, you may be eligible for this VA-administered program."

In other words, after a typical four-year service commitment, the average enlisted veteran will qualify for a paid college degree (and the Yellow Ribbon Program can supplement tuition that the GI Bill might not cover, at a private school for example).

The average officer, however, will not qualify for the GI Bill after a four-year service commitment. Here's why:

Tuition and fees for the military academies is free for officer candidates. ROTC cadets also compete for varying degrees of scholarships to cover their college expenses in addition to receiving stipends during training.

In other words, most officers receive a college degree and then they serve in the military. If they want to earn Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, they will have to serve additional time beyond their initial service commitment. Over time, officers accrue a percentage of the GI Bill.

So, if you're still in high school and you're trying to decide what you want to do in the military and what career you might want after the military, it could make sense to enlist first and gain professional experience then go to college courtesy of the GI Bill in the field you want to pursue.

As an alternative, you can complete your officer training and earn your first degree, serve in the military and gain professional experience similar to that of mid-level professionals, then either separate after your service commitment and pursue a civilian career or continue to serve longer and accrue GI Bill benefits for your next degree.

There are no wrong options here - it all depends on whether you know what career you want, whether it aligns with your potential military career and what kind of degree or vocational training would support you.

Culture

Officers tend to be older when they join the military, having already obtained their undergraduate degree. They are also trained with an emphasis on leadership and responsibility. Furthermore, active duty officers generally have the option of living off-base as opposed to barracks. For many of these reasons, officers get into less trouble than enlisted personnel while on active duty.

A 2015 Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Department of Defense revealed that 17% of active-duty officers were female - up from their share of 12% in 1990. And 15% of enlisted personnel were female in 2015, up from 11% in 1990.

According to the DoD's 2018 Statistical Data on Sexual Assault, 88 percent of sexual assault reports were made by enlisted personnel.

Both officers and enlisted make critical contributions to the United States military. Their experiences will vary from location to location and job to job. They will also vary based on their branch. Be sure to read about the differences between each branch of the military to decide which one is best suited for you.

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Should you enlist in the military or commission as an officer? - We Are The Mighty

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I know a lot of veterans who based their military careers on whichever recruiting office they walked into first. That's one way to go about signing your life away to Uncle Sam, but it's not what I would recommend. The military is a major commitmen...

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5 Reasons to Start College Planning In Middle School

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5 Reasons to Start College Planning In Middle School

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Your child just stepped through the doors of middle school, and into a land of braces, growth-spurts, and real lockers. You watch them grab their backpack and walk through the door, and dust off your hands, secure in the knowledge that they've still got a long way to go before high school--or even college, for that matter.

But you start getting emails and seeing headlines. Start Planning for College in Middle School, they say. You want to scream. "No! Why? It's so soon!"

Well, yeah. But here's the thing. It's actually pretty sensible.

To clarify, we're not talking about going on college tours, or looking at dorm rooms, or even picking up a brochure. But since your student isn't in high school yet, this is the perfect time to make sure they're headed in the direction of success.

Here are five specific reasons why you should start planning for college now.
Reason 1: Your student needs a solid foundation.
Foundation in what? Well, the stuff they're learning in school. Reading, writing...and especially math.

The mathematics taught from kindergarten through 7th grade are the basics that are used for every future math and science class--Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Statistics, Chemistry, Physics, etcetera.

Right now, before they get into high school (and higher level math), you can make sure that they fully understand these fundamentals, to save them from years of struggling.
Reason 2: GPA carries an unexpected amount of weight.
Colleges look at GPA (Grade Point Average) when they're deciding whether they should admit your student...and whether they should give out huge merit-based scholarships.

But did you know there are two GPAs? Yep--there's a weighted GPA, and an unweighted GPA.

Unweighted GPA is the one you know and love. Each class grade is assigned a value from 0-4. (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0.) Then, the average of these "grade points" is your student's GPA. So, if your student gets all A's, they'll end up with a 4.0. Piece of cake.

Weighted GPAs will come into play in high school, when they start taking AP and Honors courses. In an Honors course, an A is worth 4.5 points instead of 4... and an AP A is worth 5 points. That also means that a B in an AP class looks the same as an A in a regular class, if you look at the weighted GPA.

But colleges just look at unweighted GPAs. So your student needs to make sure they're getting A's in every class if they want that unweighted 4.0.
Reason 3: You have time to make a standardized test plan.
PSAT, SAT, ACT, SAT subject tests...it's all kind of a blur, right? Here's the thing. If you're on top of the benefits of these tests now, your student will soar through them, with a great shot to snag scholarship money and gain acceptance to great universities.

You already know that high SAT and ACT scores can get you in the door of high-level educational institutions. But did you know that the PSAT isn't just a "Practice SAT"? It's actually a qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship, which pays for full-tuition at 53 schools across the U.S.

Also, subject tests can help your student stand out and prove that they're serious about a particular area. Are they passionate about studying math at MIT? They should take the math subject test!

Knowing things like this ahead of time will help you better prepare for these opportunities.
Reason 4: You can figure out how to fund their college education without racing against the clock.
Billions of dollars in scholarships are given out each year. (Not an exaggeration.) And often, they're at least somewhat based on GPA and SAT scores.

"The truth is there are funds available for all kinds of students from all walks of life - you don't have to be a top performing athlete or win the academic decathlon championship to get them."

As long as you're aware of that now, and if you begin your scholarship research now, you and your student will know what to do to save thousands of dollars down the line.
Reason 5: Your student has time to build a fabulous resume!
Trust me, I know. "My student needs a resume in middle school? What is this??" But elite universities have gotten so competitive that the only way your student can really differentiate themselves is through the stuff they do outside of school.

It's not for everyone. But right now, you and your student can start casually talking about their interests, ideas, and so on. Are they always curled up, reading something new? Maybe they could start a book review blog. Do they love making fancy grilled cheese sandwiches? They could consider starting a cooking club at school or do some volunteer work.

"Student volunteer work has the most direct effect on college costs: the more community service a middle school or high school student does, the more impressive their college and scholarship resume will be."

The point is that they can start gently moving in this direction now, instead of trying to scramble and scrape something together their senior year of high school.

Yes, it's only middle school. But now is the perfect time to start looking ahead, just so you can familiarize yourself with the waters to come. That way, when high school starts, instead of battling a hurricane...it'll be smooth sailing.

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5 Reasons to Start College Planning in Middle School

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Your child just stepped through the doors of middle school, and into a land of braces, growth-spurts, and real lockers. You watch them grab their backpack and walk through the door, and dust off your hands, secure in the knowledge that they've still got a long way to go before high school--or even college, for that matter.

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Information regarding the transition process