I'm interested in joining the U.S. Navy. Is it feasible to get an MBA while on active duty in the Navy?

Question

I'm really excited about joining the Navy! I'm mostly concerned about continuing my education in the Navy while on active duty and having the Navy pay for it. I already have a bachelor's degree (in social work). I was wondering if any of you Navy people could answer my questions.

1) Would it be likely for me to earn an MBA (preferably not online) while serving four to six years active duty?

2) How has the college loan repayment program, CLRP, helped you? Is it a good program?

Thanks!

Answer 1

doable, but not likely. here's why:

You will NOT be allowed to do any outside schooling during Boot and A school. Depending on which Rating you choose, A school can be a year long. But say, just for argument's sake, it's 6 months long.
between Boot, A school, a C school if you get it and your mess cranking aboard your first ship(90 days typically).. you are looking at MINIMUM a year before you can even request permission to attend school on your own time.

You stand a 80% chance of being on sea duty first. Only a very small number of ratings allow for shore duty right off. so you will also have to contend with getting qual'd in your workspace, any collateral duties you are given as well as all those little underway periods ..and lets not forget real deployments of 30 days or longer.. and you can see several of those before you even do a 6 monther.

BUT you have TA available to you, you can test out using CLEP/PACE and DANTE(although I am not sure if there are any graduate degree classes available through that).

IF you get sea duty first, you can NOT expect to EASILY get a Masters, especially if you are adamant about not going online. if you go OCONUS, there will be more opportunities as each base offers at least one or 2 Masters degree programs via on base colleges.

CLRP Is NOT available to Officers, so if you were to pursue that route it would not be an option for you..However, as an officer, you might have the opportunity to go to NPS and get that master's degree on the Navy's time and dime. depending on the length of the program, you would owe anywhere from 2-5 more years.

DH's was one of the longest programs(27 months) and he is on his payback tour now..3 years.

Answer 2

First off congratulations on getting your Bachelor's degree. I am a Navy recruiter. It is possible to attain your MBA while on active duty, but I am not going to lie, it will take some time. The main reason for this is that your job comes first. I personally know three people that worked for me that completed their masters while on active duty. Just the masters took about four years. The CLRP is a great program, one that they unfortunately didn't have when I joined. They will repay up to $65,000 of student loans, but you have to ask your recruiter about it. Also, when you sign your paperwork to join, ensure that the CLRP paperwork is in with it. Good luck with your enlistment or commissioning, which ever road you choose.

Answer 3

You have to be in a position where your having an MBA benefits the Navy and then they actually will pay for it.

I had a supervisor in the Army a few years back who got into acquisitions and the Army paid for his MBA, but he had been in for about 15 years at that point.

Getting an MBA as an O-2, though? Nope, not going to happen.

Answer 4

No it is not feasible. Your recruiter will tell you that it is but if you are active duty - no way. If you are joining the Navy for financial reasons - newsflash - you will be sorely disappointed.

Answer 5

you can get your schooling completed and shouldnt have to have student loans to do so...ask about continuing education while on active duty

Answer 6

Yeah, talk to a recruiter and they can set it up.