In January of 2019, I took a leave of absence from my teaching career to address my partner's declining mental health. My partner, Marcus, served in Samura, Iraq in 2004 where he sustained a severe physical injury from an IED blast while driving his tank. Additionally, he has multiple invisible wounds from his time in combat, including a Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Taking a leave of absence from professional work is a common occurrence among veteran and military caregivers. Sometimes it happens at the start of the caregiving journey when a physical injury occurs and there are months of recovery. Sometimes it happens later in the journey as new debilitating conditions make it a necessity to be at home. Sometimes it is a temporary shift of conditions that require more care at home and a return to the profession outside of the home can take place in the near future. Having flexible work conditions is not always a possibility for many and so when faced with an extended leave of absence, we can look to new options.

As I looked to the future, and the extended time I was going to be out of the classroom, I started to think about what opportunities I might have to improve my job prospects when I reentered the traditional workforce, especially with a gap in my job history that would make the task more difficult. Again, this is a common hurdle that caregivers have to overcome since they often take leave from their professions to care for their loved one. I had over a decade of teaching experience and a master's degree under my belt, so I started to look into what steps I might need to take to become an administrator in the field of education. I discovered that I would need to go back to school and complete an education administration program, another master's program.

I started the process of exploring which programs would meet the requirement to obtain certification in Illinois. I researched a plethora of schools and programs, weighing the costs and availability for me to work on my degree online. The necessity of having an online program was a big part of my decision making process to attend a program since I did not have the ability to participate in classes in person. Fortunately, there were multiple options in this regard as schools were adapting to our changing world. I leaned towards Grand Canyon University since it was listed in approved programs by the Illinois State Board of Education and I had completed my first master's there. Grand Canyon also had classes on a rolling basis, which meant that if I had to pause my degree for a short period of time I could pick up with the next class in a couple of weeks when the next one started instead of possibly losing semesters worth of time waiting to re-enroll in classes. In the unpredictable world of caregiving, having this type of flexibility made starting a new degree much less intimidating.

The next step I took was figuring out how to afford another degree while not putting a major financial burden on my growing family. This step was much more daunting for me. I did not know where to start since most resources were understandably geared towards those pursuing an undergraduate program. I sifted through scholarship opportunities finding, time and time again, that it would not extend to a master's. I knew that there was the possibility for Marcus to sign over his GI Bill® benefits to me, but that would mean he could no longer use it if/when he chose to return to school. I navigated through the caregiver resources in the Facebook group, Hidden Heroes Caregiver Community, I was connected with. This pointed me to an aspect of the educational benefits afforded to disabled veterans that I did not know about and was specifically for dependents, Chapter 35. However, it had a time limit to be used and we were coming up on that deadline quickly. With this knowledge I moved forward and connected with a counselor at Grand Canyon who walked me through the steps needed to get enrolled and utilize Chapter 35. After starting my degree, I found some scholarship opportunities through the Facebook group that did include graduate degrees. With so few options for scholarships for military and veteran caregivers pursuing a master's, these were very competitive. Still, I was very appreciative to the groups that offered this opportunity and recognized our unique situations.

I graduated in May of 2021 with my degree paid in full. It was through the opportunity of attending exclusively online, a great intake counselor, personal motivation, a supportive online caregiver community, and very supportive faculty that I successfully navigated the program. Even though I had to take a leave from the profession that I loved to care for my partner, I am now equipped with a new level of credentials that will open doors to my professional future.

Article Topics

Military Educational Benefits Military Friendly Institutions Serving Military in HigherEd Workplace Inclusion

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