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JBSA News
NEWS | Nov. 18, 2015

Education service center provides tools for success

Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Public Affairs

Whether it’s getting a college degree or earning certification in a job skill, service members can turn to the Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Education Services Center to provide them with the resources, tools and counseling to meet their educational and career goals.

The JBSA-Randolph Education Services Center, in building 208, is staffed by three education specialists who can provide academic counseling to active-duty service members and their dependents and any Department of Defense civilian employees or cardholders.

Lynda Packett, JBSA-Randolph Education Services Center education specialist, said the center provides academic counseling in several programs for service members, from job skill certification to college level degrees.

“It is my job to take them from wherever they are in their educational world to wherever they have a desire to be at, whether it would be technical, certification or a traditional college environment,” Packett said.

Laurie Murphy, 802nd Force Support Squadron chief of education and training at JBSA-Randolph, said the Education Services Center offers educational and career assessment resources, such as the online Kuder Journey Tools program that utilizes a five step approach for educational planning and career development.

Packett said assessment resources such as Kuder Journey Tools can be useful to service members in determining what educational and career goals are attainable for them.

Murphy said the center provides counseling in the Air Force Credentialing Opportunities On-Line Program, or COOL, which enables service members to earn certification in several career fields in the Air Force. Tuition assistance is available to service members who take their examinations for certification in the COOL program.

Service members can take courses from several colleges and universities at the Education Services Center, including Alamo Colleges, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Park University, Wayland Baptist University and Webster University. There are several degree plans service members can enroll in at the schools that are based at the center, including associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Within the last year, 764 students have taken 2,000 college-level courses at the JBSA-Randolph Education Services Center, Murphy said.

Murphy said students can take courses through one of the schools at the center that can go towards an associate degree with the Community College of the Air Force.

The center has a testing area for service members to take college level entrance exams such as the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support and College-Level Examination Plan tests. Service members can also take the Defense Language Proficiency Test and the Defense Language Aptitude Battery at the center.

Once a month, the center hosts a two-day seminar, the Transition Goals Plans Success Higher Education Track program, for service members who are leaving or retiring from the military and who want to go to college. Murphy said the seminar informs service members on the process for enrolling in a college program and obtaining financial aid.

The JBSA-Randolph Education Services Center is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m. to noon Friday. Call 652-5964 to make an appointment to see an education specialist or one of the college or university representatives based at the center. The center also accepts walk-in appointments for education specialists from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday.