College boasts accessible education options for the military community

For service members wanting to further their education, Columbia College has been providing “life-changing educational experiences” for 175 years. The college offers 15 locations across the country, with the main campus in Columbia, Missouri. With 11 campuses on military installations, higher education is easily accessible for military students — especially through its online program that can be pursued even while deployed.

“We are very cognizant that life is real, so our instructors work very well with students,” said Columbia’s Senior Director of Military and Community Engagement J. Robert Streit on the topic of a sudden deployment for military students. “If they have something that comes up, then our instructors are understanding of what they’re going through, and we’ll work with them to be able to achieve their assignments. We want them to be successful in their class.”

Military-student life

An Army veteran, Streit understands the pressure on military students all too well.

“One of the great things about our online program is that the student starts with one of our locations, or if a student starts online, they don’t have to finish there,” said Streit, who began his bachelor’s degree at Columbia College while stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He was later stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, and graduated from the main campus in Columbia. After receiving his master’s degree in history and teaching at Columbia College, he realized he wanted a career in higher education once he transitioned out of the Army.

“Why did I join with Columbia College? Because I was actually a graduate of Columbia College in 2015, and knowing how they took care of me and how they took care of my fellow classmates, knowing that they have been around in the military community for 53 years, and have experience and are in several different locations — it was just a school that I really want to be a part of,” he explained.

“So in reality, it’s like a major dream come true, because now I get to be a part of the team that took care of me. Now I get to do that for fellow students.”

Setting — and reaching — goals

Sean Wiechman felt a little “lost in everything” after working in retail for a few years after high school. Wanting a change, he viewed the military as a great opportunity.

“I didn’t really know where I wanted to be in life — well, I had goals, I knew where I wanted to go — I just couldn’t get there … I didn’t have a degree, I didn’t have a way to pay for college or anything like that,” he said. “So when I was 24, I joined the Army.”

After years of service, Wiechman began planning his transition out of the Army in 2022 while stationed at Fort Sill. He signed up for classes at Columbia College after realizing that getting a degree was “either now or it’s going to be never.”

“I knew I had to get my degree, so it was just school, school, school,” Wiechman said.

With evening Zoom classes from 5 to 9, three times a week, he admits it was hard to juggle military training, school and parenting at times during his first two years. For his third year, Wiechman took advantage of the online courses offered, which gave him the “freedom to be able to work on it whenever I needed to.”

The hard work paid off: Wiechman recently graduated from Columbia College with a degree in sports management; his dream job is to become a teacher and a baseball coach. Because Oklahoma offers an accelerated certification program that allows people to teach while pursuing their licenses, Wiechman is already applying for positions.

“I have a passion for coaching and teaching, and I love building programs. And then that’s kind of what I did here in the Army … but as I move forward with my life … I want to build strong sports programs for young athletes. I have these big goals — I want to be able to give back,” Wiechman said.

“I want to give my time, especially to young athletes coming up in the system,” he added. “I want to be able to open up a nonprofit clinic someday to be able to support these young athletes coming up into these bigger programs.”

“Columbia helped me with that foundation and confidence to start pursuing those goals and dreams.”

‘Meeting modern learners where they are’

Columbia College offers more than 100 in-seat courses or online degree programs, and with a 50+ year partnership with the military, the school is deeply connected to the community. During the 2025 government shutdown, tuition for military-connected students was paused, causing many to wonder how they would continue their education without the financial assistance. In response, Columbia announced the “You Stand For Us, We Stand By You” program, temporarily covering tuition assistance for military students affected.

“These men and women selflessly serve our country and deserve our very best, and we are making sure they can continue in pursuit of their educational goals,” Dr. Sandra Hamar, senior vice president and provost, said at the time. “We don’t just market ourselves as military-friendly; we prove it through our actions, especially when it matters most.”

The school and the instructors frequently help students navigate unexpected issues — such as training, deployments or a PCS — to avoid causing additional stress to the student.

“I was attending Columbia College while I was deployed to Afghanistan, and able to take classes doing it that way, and my advisors always took care of me; even in a different time zone, they always took care of me,” Streit said, adding that he had a student overseas who would attend his classes even at 2 a.m. because “they wanted that instructor experience and not just the online experience.”

“When we say that we are meeting these modern learners where they are in their journey, I feel like we are actually doing that.”