Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education, Educational Leadership & Policy Studies

Date of Defense

7-8-2025

Graduate Advisor

E. Paulette Isaac-Savage, Ed.D.

Committee

Kathleen Haywood, Ph.D.

Michael Kirchner, Ph.D.

Gwendolyn Turner, Ed.D.

Abstract

There are studies explaining how many service members are using military educational benefits or the challenges service members incur after they have enrolled in school and are attending classes. There are also studies that report how many service members use military educational benefits. However, studies exploring why some service members, or some Post-9/11 service members in particular, do not use military educational benefits has been limited. The purpose of this study was to discover why many service members in the United States Navy do not or did not take advantage of military educational benefits. This study also sought to find out if service members think they are being adequately informed about military educational benefits for which they are eligible. Adult education participation, particularly barriers to it, served as the framework for the study. Four Navy service members, one female and three males, from a midwestern metropolitan area who met Post-9/11 criteria for military educational benefits participated in the study. Qualitative case studies were used. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted twice. Five themes emerged: (a) lack of communication; (b) lack of knowledge; (c) frustration; (d) lack of confidence; (e) finance/family. Other themes that emerged from the second round of interviews were information access and awareness, complexity of eligibility rules, communication gaps and military trauma. All of them, however, expressed a desire to change their early decisions if they had the opportunity to do it all over again. Results from the study suggest that the lack of information about educational benefits can hinder service members from making essential lifelong decisions. Recommendations include revamping the VA website and promoting the educational benefits at the post-secondary level.

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