Education Support Center
What is it? The Army National Guard (ARNG) Education Support Center (ESC), located at the Professional Education Center (PEC) in Arkansas, is the focal point for education benefits for ARNG Soldiers, their dependents, and civilian employees of the ARNG.
What has the Army done? The ARNG ESC provides GI Bill eligibility analysis, educational counseling, degree planning, and various other educational services to Soldiers located in all 50 States and 4 Territories, as a supplement to the State Education Offices. The ESC also counsels and assists Soldiers and civilian workers who visit PEC for conferences and resident classes. The ESC provides information about the Active Duty, Reserve, and Mobilization GI Bills, the ARNG GI Bill Kicker, and the Work Study program. The ESC provides guidance to Soldiers on various educational assistance programs including Federal and Active Army Tuition Assistance, state funded programs, Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarships, and the Student Loan Repayment Program. The ESC provides or communicates about testing programs for college credit such as CLEP College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), college entrance such as Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Graduate Record Examination (GRE), and Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), certification and licensing exams, as well as test preparation programs. They assist in administering the General Educational Development (GED) Plus test to new recruits. The ESC also disseminates information about and counseling for programs such as Troops to Teachers, Spouses to Teachers, Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOCGuard), eDISCOVER, Army e-Learning, ACE Army Registry Transcript System (AARTS), and Degree Planning.
What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future? In addition to the services listed above, recent additions to benefits and services include:
- Soldiers who are eligible for the Active Duty Montgomery GI Bill (regardless if their original 10-year delimiting period has expired or not) who are federally mobilized and serve 90 continuous days or more will have a new 10-year delimiting period established at the point of their latest discharge from active duty.
- Soldiers can use the Virtual Armory Website to complete Federal Tuition Assistance forms, request information, apply for degree planning services, and use eDiscover services.
- Army e-Learning provides free Internet access to over 1,500 Information Technology, Business Skills, and Interpersonal Skills courses.
- The ESC identifies, contacts, and tracks officers without degrees, assists them with attaining a Bachelor's Degree, thereby increasing the retention rate of officers in the ARNG.
Why is this important to the Army? Education is the bedrock for a strong nation and a strong military. Many Soldiers join the military to advance their educational and career opportunities. Thousands of Soldiers and ARNG civilians take advantage of educational benefits and services during their active years and during their retirement or post-military time. Communicating about these benefits increases the likelihood that these benefits will be known by and used by those who have earned the rights to the programs. The ESC ensures that benefits are used efficiently and effectively.
Click on the following links for the Virtual Armory, the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Guard (SOCGuard), or the Army eLearning website.