PROGRAM NOTES
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
TAP Updated Some reservists will be required to complete the DoD Transition Assistance Program (TAP) under legislation designed to reduce unemployment among veterans. The updated TAP went into effect November 21. It now requires mandatory pre-separation counseling, an individualized transition plan, VA benefits briefing and the Department of Labor (DoL) employment workshop for all active-duty military members retiring or separating from the Air Force. “Members of the Air Reserve Component on orders for 180 consecutive days or more are also now required to receive pre-separation counseling (to include an individualized transition plan) and receive a VA benefits briefing,” said Eddy Saunders, Air Force Reserve Command TAP program manager. Reserve members are encouraged to participate in TAP services. However, the Office of the Secretary of Defense is reviewing an exemption that will allow reservists to opt out of the DoL employment workshop if they already have a job or an education plan. “If members cannot provide proof, it will be mandatory that they also complete the TAP employment workshop,” Saunders said. Two pieces of legislation are driving changes to the program. The Veterans Opportunity to Work Act and Hiring Heroes Act directed the Department of Veterans Affairs, the DoL and DoD to expand current programs to reduce unemployment among veterans. “The newly revised TAP will offer veterans the skills needed to explore education and employment opportunities, translate military skills and training and to receive individualized assistance to successfully register for the right VA benefits and services,” added Krystal Shiver, AFRC’s other TAP manager. Reservists who need to fulfill TAP requirements should contact the airman and family readiness office at their location. “Members on an active-duty base will accomplish TAP requirements through the activeduty airman and family readiness center,” Shiver said.
Financial Aid Shopping Sheet Adopted by Over 500 Schools Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced in mid-November that the Financial Aid Financial Aid Shopping Sheet, a model Shopping Sheet financial aid award letter, has been Tuition Costs adopted by over 500 colleges and univerGrants and Scholorships sities. The Shopping Sheet, a standardized award letter, helps prospective students Loans by allowing them to easily compare Graduation Rates financial aid packages among schools. Default Rates The Shopping Sheet was introduced by the Obama administration in July. “I applaud the institutions that have agreed to adopt the Shopping Sheet, and hope more colleges and universities follow their example in offering students and families an easy-to-read award letter that delivers the bottom line on college costs,” Duncan wrote on the official blog of the U.S. Department of Education. The Shopping Sheet provides students with key information such as:
• The cost of one year of school at this institution; • Financial aid options to pay this cost, with a clear differentiation between grants and scholarships, which do not have to be repaid, and loans, which do; • The net costs after grants and scholarships; • Information about student results, including comparative information about default rates, graduation rates and median debt levels for the school; • Potential monthly payments for the federal student loans the typical student would owes after graduation.
PEOPLE In Pensacola, Fla., the Distinguished Civilian Service Award was presented to Dr. Carla Jill Stein on behalf of Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, by Rear Admiral David F. Steindl, the commander of the Naval Service Training Command (NSTC). NSTC’s Officer Development Directorate is responsible for the selection and placement of qualified applicants into university
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Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps units as midshipmen, officer candidates and nurse candidates. John Silvanus Wilson Jr., Ph.D., has been named president of Morehouse College. Wilson has over 25 years of leadership in higher education and has extensive expertise in advancing the interests of black colleges through his research
at George Washington University, his service on the Spelman College Board of Trustees and as executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Charlotta R. Taylor, the associate director for academic support and recruitment at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University, has
accepted a position as the director of admissions for recruitment and student engagement at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University.
Ian Berry, the chief curator and associate director of the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, has been promoted to director.
Brian J. May, the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Angelo State University, has been approved as the new president of the same institution.
Wolfgang Gilliar has been promoted to dean of the college of osteopathic medicine at New York Institute of Technology. His previous title was chair of osteopathic medicine.
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