The California Institute of Arts & Technology (CIAT) earns the Gold status in the 2023-2024 Military Friendly Schools Award for the Non-traditional/Vocational category. The award is part of the Military Friendly Program, which evaluates educational institutions through public data sources and survey responses further reviewed by the Military Advisory Council. Only 250 of the 1,800 participating schools were awarded the Gold status.
Offering specialized programs for military personnel
An Institute for Veterans and Military Families survey revealed that over 50% of servicemen want to pursue a new career post their military service. CIAT fosters a supportive community of tech-oriented and growth-minded students seeking a career change, transitioning from military to civilian life or continuing to build their technical skills to support their active duty responsibilities.
According to the published results from the Military Friendly Program, CIAT’s combination of stackable Certificate, Associate, and Bachelor’s degree Programs allow military service members and veterans a variety of technical training opportunities to meet both their short-term and long-term career goals.
As a military-friendly school, CIAT offers a career-centric education for active duty service members, transitioning service members, and veterans. The technical vocational college specializes in preparing students for technical careers in cybersecurity, networking, IT management, server and cloud administration, and coding.
“The college has always taken pride in our military-oriented programs, but to be recognized and awarded the top status this year inspires us to work harder in making our college as inclusive as possible,” CIAT said.
Providing benefits and tuition assistance
The Military Friendly Program rates educational organizations based on six categories, including admissions and orientation, financial aid and assistance, military student support and transition, academic policies and compliance, culture and commitment, and graduation and career. CIAT exceeded the standards for all categories and rated particularly high for their financial aid assistance.
All CIAT Certificate and Degree rograms are approved for Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits, including the Montgomery GI Bill, Post 9/11 GI Bill, and the VA Yellow Ribbon Program. The college also offers Active Duty Tuition Assistance for service members and extends a tuition discount to $250/credit for each student with a personal maximum of $4,500 per fiscal year.
“We strive to make education as flexible and affordable as possible by proudly offering military tuition assistance and benefits to service members in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard,” CIAT added.
CIAT’s custom-designed curriculum places industry certification exam preparation and project-based coding portfolio development at the core of the learning experience, ensuring that students are well-prepared to meet employer demands.