Worth using G.I. bill to pursue some IT certifications?

zxbane

Hi all,

I am looking for some advice. I am in a situation where I have been using the post 9/11 GI bill and have achieved my Bachelors in IT Systems and I am currently pursing my MBA as well. I will have 1-2 months to spare on my GI bill if I continue on my MBA route at the pace I currently am at. I am thinking of using my GI bill to attend some Veterans Affair approved IT bootcamp type organizations for certifications such as CCNA/Sec, and VCP if possible. If I do this it will cost a month of my GI bill entitlement in a trade off.

Does anyone have experience with doing anything like this and also do you guys think it would be worth it to lose a month or two of the GI bill entitlement to add CCNA/Sec, or VCP (if possible) to my resume? Most of my experience is on the Sys Ad side, (Windows Server, AD, etc) and I am looking to add some networking certifications to make myself more balanced and marketable as well. I have found an organization that would be covered by the GI bill and would cost a month of my entitlement and I would get to attend a 7 day bootcamp that I would at the end test for CCNA and CCNA Security.

Thanks for any tips!

jvrlopez

If you will be achieving a masters via Chapter 33 and will have a couple of months left over to get it, go for it.

However, I would either make sure you have plenty of wiggle room on your remaining benefits or wait until your MBA is in hand just in case. That way if you have to drop, fail, or don't make it on time, you don't have to pay for the MBA out of pocket, which I'm assuming will be more than a cert boot camp (which isn't essential for attempting the exam).

I believe you receive full time BAH for attending cert training/boot camps.

I haven't done that, but I have used the GI Bill to reimburse all of my certs that I've taken since I got out. You will be refunded regardless of you passing or failing. Every $1500 in certs refunded will count towards a month of your Chapter 33 GI Bill bennies. Again, this is only if you're just taking the test. Don't know about the cap when it comes to going to a boot camp/training.

devils_haircut

I'm glad you reminded me about this. I didn't realize that they had changed the program to allow more than one certification reimbursement (it used to just be one certification). As of right now, I stand to get back over $700 from the VA for exams I've taken in the past year. Sweet.

jvrlopez

I ended up getting reimbursed for CCNA, CEH, and Sec+ all at once which came out to around $1100. My employer also reimbursed CEH and CCNA, so I ended up taking the exams for free and coming out with an extra $900 (employer did the full $600 for CEH )

The reimbursement claim was actually pretty quick (in relation to usual VA processing times). Mailed it in 1 Oct 13 (day of the shutdown, lol) and got the checks on 7 Nov 13.

devils_haircut

I've been thinking about using my GI bill to do one or two of those bootcamp-style trainings, maybe for CCNA or RHCSA. I definitely think it's worth the trade-off. I'll have about 4-5 months of benefits remaining when I finish school, so for me it's a no-brainer. But then again, I'm not anywhere near the point in my career where a Master's degree would benefit me.