When Manny Smith was a high school senior, attending college didn't look like an option. His parents had no college credits, the family couldn't afford tuition, and he didn't know how to apply. His path only changed during his second semester of high school, when a sports scholarship landed him a spot at the U.S. Air Force Academy ' an acceptance that transformed him from a teenager with no money for college into a military officer. Smith spent eight years on active duty, serving as a technical product manager building satellites and software for national defense for the Air Force and Space Force. When he returned home from a seven-month deployment, Smith looked at the data surrounding community college transfers to four-year universities and realized how low the success rates were. 'You have a higher chance of success [of attaining a bachelor's degree] by pursuing a military academy ' than if you go to any community college ',' Smith said in an interview with Crunchbase News. 'That...
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