Ok, here it goes. I am in the military and will be getting out soon; my husband and I are hoping to open a bar not long after I get out. He will be dealing with the business side of the bar, while I work the bar. I have no prior experience with working at a bar so I would like to take a bartending course. I keep running into dead ends with the military paying for it, but I did here about a couple of people who were able to get the military to pay for it. Whether it was hearsay or what I don’t know, but would like to find out. So here is the question, how do I go about taking a bartending class and getting the military to pay for it? I figured that since it is a course there should be something out there that can help me with the cost whether it is the GI bill or TA. Thank you.

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Originally Posted by sexyblondenerd

Ok, here it goes. I am in the military and will be getting out soon; my husband and I are hoping to open a bar not long after I get out. He will be dealing with the business side of the bar, while I work the bar. I have no prior experience with working at a bar so I would like to take a bartending course. I keep running into dead ends with the military paying for it, but I did here about a couple of people who were able to get the military to pay for it. Whether it was hearsay or what I don’t know, but would like to find out. So here is the question, how do I go about taking a bartending class and getting the military to pay for it? I figured that since it is a course there should be something out there that can help me with the cost whether it is the GI bill or TA. Thank you.

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I am a 100% service-connected air force veteran and I am begging you to please, please use your G.I. bill for something more expensive than bar tending. I am a bartending graduate and it isn't something that you won't be able to pay for. You should be able to find a school that will gladly give a war era, female vet a discount or at least let you make three payments or more for your course.

If you use that precious G.I. Bill on something that won't be as impossible as some other school then you might miss out on some really great school. I.E. A business course to help you know how to manage your bar and it's employees to maximum capasity. Or an advertising course to write kick butt ads that will keep people coming back to drink themselves under one of the barstools.

Bartending is great by the way. You are able mix wonderful drinks, hear the latest gossip (if you are so inclined), play shrink quack (only joking docs) with your patrons and create mixicologically correct drinks and make big tips.

Enjoy. The test isn't nearly as scary as you would think. We had to mix fourteen drinks in seven minutes.

I agree. I am a Navy vet 6 yrs. I used up my GI Bill and Navy College fund. My problem is I would get half way through a program then switch majors. I have close to 200 credits but they are all mixed. I think I switched majors 4 times. Used up close tp 60,000.00. Needless to say that money was great. A way to make a military to civilian transition. I also have my bar license. The entire course was like 850.00. So I would bartend part time (bourbon st, New Orleans) and collect my GI Bill plus government grants. I have three friends that opened a bar and within two years they had to leave. It's a risky business and you need at least a yr. of capitol. Use that money for technical, degree schools. 3 payments of 300 something isn't nothing. Register for part time classes at the local university, apply for financial aid, veteran affairs for GI Bill, part tme job the money on the side pay for bartending. That's what I did. I did even finish school and doing good. Plus I still have about 10,000 left of gibill.

I'm a little late to respond, but we have experience in this area.

We have run a bartending school in the Washington DC region for decades. Professional Bartending School Virginia Maryland Washington DC. With all those bases in the DC region and suburbs plus so many veterans we have pursued this topic for over two decades.

For some reasons, bartending schools are explicitely prohibited from partaking in either enlisted or veteran benefits. It's a long story. I won't go into it.

I liked the responses from the two people above. Bartending classes are relatively short (typically 40 hours) and relatively inexpensive. Certainly we have arranged payment schedules with military personnel for years. (In fact the shortness of the programs is related to one of the reasons bartending programs don't qualify for GI benefits).

You can save your benefits for more expensive programs. (Hey!! The good news is that educational benefits just increased!! ).

We have had many enlisted and retired military take our classes and find work all over the region. While we have a very active job placement assistance program, the maturity level and rigour of military training is often respected by employers. I'd certainly emphasize that part of one's experience when it comes to bartending job interviews.

One of the benefits, when you do use your GI bill benefits for longer term school, is that bartending skills can be easily used for evening work to supplement your income while you are getting that degree. And above all else, bartending is a fun job.

Dave