Evolving Needs
Written by Celeste Altus
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 10 (December)
It’s probably no surprise that almost 75 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds personally know someone who has served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Young veterans are very much a part of the social makeup of this country. And one place they are populating more and more is college campuses.
With the improvements to education benefits the Post-9/11 GI Bill has brought, these veteran and active duty students have needs that differ from the average college freshman. Those needs are evolving over time, and some of students’ top concerns are online access to courses, flexibility and academic counseling.
The Online World
The changes brought about by the Internet age cannot be understated, pointed out Robert Cyboron, associate vice president for off-campus programs at Hawaii Pacific University. “Ten years ago, the majority of military students, including servicemembers and their families, attended class in a traditional classroom.”
Today, operational requirements and repeated deployment cycles mean an ever-increasing percentage of military students take online classes. Cyboron said he has noticed that the online evolution has brought changes in every aspect of military education, including admission, registration and academic advising. Ginny Newman, assistant director of military education at Penn State, agrees. “A significant way in which the needs of military students are evolving is in how they access education,” she said. With numerous and more lengthy deployments, active duty students are taking more advantage of online classes. She said Internet-based education, such as is provided by the Penn State World Campus, keeps students on track with their courses while they keep their commitments to the service.
“It allows the classroom to follow the servicemember to each new duty station without the need to change their school or program of study,” she said. Online education is also a popular option for veterans as many return to civilian life with families and join the work force. “The convenience and flexibility afforded by distance learning suits their needs as an adult learner,” Newman added.
Respect on Campus
Oklahoma City University law and economics student Derek Gordon established a military affinity group (MAG) on campus that is addressing the needs of military members and veterans. MAG is modeled after Military Past and Present, which Gordon founded at the University of Arkansas when he was a student there. The Fayetteville chapter assisted military members with transitioning to civilian and university life. Gordon has a lot of personal experience on how universities can improve the atmosphere for their military students on campus.
“When military people get out, or get back from fighting and take the GI Bill, usually all they want to do is blend in. All they want to do is get through school. But unfortunately it can be very difficult.”
Gordon said it’s hard to go from a very rigorous daily timetable to the environment of college, where students set their own schedules. It’s also a challenge to relate to civilians who don’t know many servicemembers, but make assumptions about them. Since September 11, returning veterans often come home to hostile questions about the war in the Middle East as well.
“It’s hard getting military students to unite. There are about 60 to 70 of us on campus, but we have had some hostility,” Gordon said. He noted that many professors are vehemently against the war, and that passion can extend to the veterans. “Many didn’t sign on to the idea that you may not agree with the war, but you don’t take it out on the person who gets sent off to fight it,” he said.
MAG is open to active duty military personnel, reservists, National Guard members and veterans. There are an estimated 400,000 U.S. armed servicemembers preparing to rejoin civilian life, so organizations like MAG believe it’s a worthy cause to help prepare them to become students.
Navigating the System
The declining value of a four-year bachelor’s degree is affecting the number of military students on campus, Gordon said. Census Bureau statistics show that 27 percent of adults over age 25 hold bachelor’s degrees now, while in 1950, that number was just 5 percent. So more veterans and servicemembers are using the benefits themselves to earn a basic college degree, rather than entering the job market without a bachelor’s and allowing their spouses or children to use the money.
But if there is anything that most often stands between a servicemember and his or her education, self-discipline is not it. What sometimes holds up progress is the process of claiming educational benefits. Gordon believes money is the top barrier to educational goals. “The needs of military students are quite diverse, but the biggest issue is the expense of attending school,” Gordon said. “Not every person who has served or is serving in some capacity can obtain funding to pay their bills or their tuition in its entirety. In fact, many end up footing a majority of the bill.”
Knowledge of the benefit system is power among colleges and universities, said Steve Bird, program manager for institutional partnerships at Pierce College, a two-year institution in Woodland Hills, Calif.
“Overall, there is a lack of knowledge on the part of the military members, and the information they are getting is very confusing,” Bird said. “For that reason, military students need to have a school well-versed on the benefits. A significant number of students are confused about the whole educational benefit process, so access to resources and support that can walk them through the process and answer questions is in high demand. Colleges and programs that understand the process and can provide them with the best answers are in high demand.”
Educational Guidance
At Longwood University in Farmville, Va., the school is currently piloting a Bachelor of General Studies program with classes slated to start in January. The school’s main campus is 75 miles away from an Army base: Fort Lee.
Jenny Quarles, a program director for the Fort Lee site, said many servicemembers are taking advantage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, but they don’t understand the difference between degree programs and offerings. This can be crucial information, because the fastest-track degree program may not lead to the best choice long-term.
“They are counseled on their benefits, but not necessarily on their professional goals,” Quarles said. She said in her experience, students tend to be more concerned with completing their education as quickly as possible, rather than considering the best fit for their future. Qualified schools are competing like crazy for new students, but Quarles said Longwood’s primary concern has been asking the students, ‘What do you want to do in the next five to 10 years?’
She said if Longwood is not a fit for the student, the student is referred to a better program to meet his or her interests. “Students get frustrated when they enter a program that doesn’t intersect with their goals and this can lead to the student dropping out or giving up,” she said. “These students are giving up their evenings and weekends to complete their education. They want quality programs that meet their specific and nontraditional needs.”
In Quarles’ opinion, quality should never be sacrificed for speed. “Classes need to be streamlined to help servicemembers complete their education in a timely manner, but the quality of the education being offered needs to remain high.”
Counseling
Veterans need a safe and familiar place to openly discuss their experiences, challenges and goals in regards to transitioning from combat to civilian life, said Dr. Jim Drnek, dean of students at Cleveland State University and an expert on working with military students. Working with the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, the university has created the VetSuccess on Campus program, which places VA vocational rehabilitation and employment service and mental health counselors on campus in order to help student veterans ease their transition back into civilian life. VetSuccess offers career counseling, transition support services, housing assistance and mental health care.
According to Drnek, one of the resources most in demand is counseling services for student-veterans affected by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury. Drnek said the VetSuccess on Campus program makes an effort to find veterans who have PTSD and depression, but have not come to the VA, or any other mental health specialist, for help.
Drnek takes the position that the needs of military students have not changed much since Vietnam or even Word War II. “It’s not that the needs are necessarily different, it’s just that we’re more aware of and willing to work with those needs. For example, other than providing access to the GI Bill, WWII veterans were on their own once they began attending college.”
Today, schools like Cleveland State are specifically encouraging veterans to pursue higher education and offer many services to assist them in doing so. This is a change that can be coupled with the implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
“In partnering with the VA, Cleveland State is maximizing the number of services available to advance, improve and expand veterans’ education, while providing them with an ease that unfortunately their predecessors didn’t have when making this transition,” he said. ♦