AMU Military

Federal Education Readmission Guidelines

by Bradley Hood
In Military Education Contributor

During my time at American Military University, I encountered a number of individuals who managed to complete classes while deployed. Since I have not deployed myself (despite being in service since 2008), I cannot yet speak from experience on how feasible it is, though I would imagine it depends significantly on the individual circumstance. For some service members, however, continuing classes when deployed may not be possible. While at AMU I received two course extensions based on personal circumstances, only one of them related to my service in the reserves. I would be extremely surprised to find that any service member in APU/AMU would have a hard time resolving issues related to a deployment, but it is still good to know the protections provided by the Federal Government for student service members.

Put simply, the US Department of Education states that readmission requirements “…require institutions of higher education to promptly readmit with the same academic status a servicemember who was previously admitted to the institution but who did not attend, or did not continue to attend, because of service in the uniformed services”. There are some qualifiers to this statement. First, the readmission requirements do not provide protections for short absences for training, such as in the case with my reserve training. Although professors at AMU (and I certain in many other institutions) may be willing to work with a student to provide adequate time for assignments around their service, it is expected that training under 30 days in length can be planned for by the student themselves. There may be other ways to resolve short term, but still significant, periods of service such as 20 or more days, but these protections are not a part of the readmission guidelines. The cumulative length of absence may not exceed five years, except in special cases. Then comes the most important qualifiers, which rely on the individual service member: The institution must be given official notice by the service member (usually your orders), and a notice of intent to return including official documentation showing a completion of service/training (again, usually your endorsed orders).

If these guidelines are followed, an institution must readmit the service member in the same status as they were at the time that official notice was issued by the service member. In most cases the university will assist the service member in all steps of the process seamlessly, guiding him or her without any issues. Regardless, if you are unable to finish your degree because of your service, it is possible to protect your status within your program simply by keeping copies of your orders and submitting them at the appropriate times to your school. In many ways it is similar to the protections provided by the government for jobs, a protection I have found invaluable during my time as a reservist. For those of you unfamiliar with the protections for your civilian job while in service, I will write a post on them soon!

For more information on Readmission Guidelines, go to http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/guid/readmission.html.

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