Veteran Support
Written by Celeste Altus
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 5 (July)
As student veteran enrollment grows at college campuses across the country, more and more colleges and universities are establishing dedicated centers for veterans to gather and receive help. Older than the average college freshman and with a different set of needs and issues, veterans say they appreciate the colleges and universities reaching out to them as a student group.
Washington is taking notice. In December, Congress approved the Department of Education’s efforts to give $6 million in federal grants to colleges and universities to establish student veterans “centers of excellence.” The centers established will assist veterans and active duty students access their GI Bill benefits and military health care.
College enrollment is booming among veterans with the Post-9/11 GI Bill. A rough estimate of the growth is 20 to 25 percent since the bill went in to effect, according to the Student Veterans of America (SVA). However, along with these expanded benefits come some difficulties.
Servicemembers exiting active duty often have trouble finding information, understanding and applying for the wealth of benefits to which they are entitled, according to the SVA. When a college campus creates a veterans center, it provides support to the student and his or her family and can be a central location for other resources, such as scholarships, contacts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and health issues such as PTSD.
ROBUST RESOURCES
When Western Illinois University opened its veterans resource center on campus last year, student veterans were thankful for a centralized location where they could apply for admission, receive information on financial aid, access community resources and help with any veterans’ issue that might come up.
“Definitely, with a resounding yes,” said Kathy Meyers, who assists veterans and military personnel at WIU. Meyers said she and her team work with active duty students and many students who are currently deployed to Afghanistan and other parts of the world, taking distance learning courses. They work with military families. They answer questions, work closely with the Veterans Administration and help students navigate the many paths to financial aid.
“We’re seven months old and there is never a dull moment,” Meyers said. The Wright Residence Veterans Resource Center was dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 2009, after local veterinarian Dr. Ken Wright and his wife Betty donated Ken’s childhood home to Western. It serves as a one-stop location where veterans, guard members, reservists or current military members can receive individual assistance with any question or concern they may encounter. It also offers computer access, a study and meeting room, a lounge and a three-season porch.
Brant Bonifas, 28, is one of five student veteran peer assistants who were hired to work at Western Illinois’ Wright Residence. Bonifas, a junior majoring in recreation, park and tourism and minoring in natural resources conservation and law enforcement, said when he got to WIU, the center benefited him immediately.
“It has helped me tremendously,” he affirmed. “I found out I was eligible for more benefits than I thought I was. At my previous school, I had lost out on thousands of dollars. I came in as a transfer student. Left on my own, I would still be in the dark.”
He said he sees a lot of student vets just like him come in to the center. “It is like a sigh of relief when they come in. When they see they will actually get the help they need, they truly are grateful.”
Student veteran Matt Metzger, 24, a senior at Western Illinois who is double majoring in law enforcement and political science, is another employee of the Veterans Resource Center. He served Operation Enduring Freedom and is now a reservist stationed out of Great Lakes.
“A lot of veterans join the military for the college benefits, yet they don’t explain how to use the benefits while you are in the service.” he recognized. “The center helps vets with every single aspect: Applying for admission, financial aid and registering with classes. The face to face interactions with students are unbelievable.”
APPLYING RESEARCH
According to a study conducted by Cleveland State University, the leading reason civilians have chosen to enlist in the military over the last decade is for the educational benefits they expect to receive after successfully completing their enlistment. But in reality, very few—less than 10 percent—take full advantage of their earned benefits.
In response to these findings, Cleveland State has created the Supportive Education for the Returning Veteran (SERV) program, which is designed to assist military veterans transitioning from soldiers to civilians to students. SERV provides classes for veterans to help them in their crucial first year of college. In addition, transfer students are supported regardless of their previous school. This support is especially important when it comes to transferring credits from previous courses and college work.
After Kent State University opened the Center for Adult and Veteran Services this past January, the number of veterans enrolled at the university climbed by more than 100. The university now has almost 500 veterans and estimates that number will reach 1,000 by fall 2010. Before the center, “everything was fragmented,” said Joshua Rider, the center’s director for adult and veteran services and a VA certifying official. “The adult student center handled nontraditional students. Veterans had to go to two different offices, so we decided to move the veterans center to a one-stop shop. Now we can steer vets in the right direction.”
And it is not all schoolwork and business, Rider added. “There is a growing need for social activities. Veteran students are a different demographic: most vets are single, 22 to 26 years old, have free tuition, books and living money. Of those that have jobs, they are working part time at most and go to classes from Monday to Friday, eight to five. They are looking for social activities.”
BUILDING COMMUNITIES
Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., counts networking and social events among its key offerings. The university’s office of veterans’ affairs was established last summer and is staffed with a full-time veterans’ advocate—her name is Joyce Rivers.
The office serves about 100 undergraduate veterans on campus and twice that in the university’s online graduate programs. Rivers and a number of volunteers work to connect veterans with each other, plan outings such as “pub nights,” help veterans navigate their GI Bill benefits and provide a corner of campus where veterans can go during downtime.
Also as a part of their responsibilities, the NU staff formed a campus chapter of the national Student Veterans of America and provided delegates to the university veterans affairs committee to give input on formulating and enacting policies and procedures at Norwich that are military and veteran-friendly.
They also seek grant funding to finance major organization activities, such as sending care packages to all deployed NU students, and host a pool tournament between NU vets, local vets and servicemembers, which intersects with The Veterans’ Place and local American Legion post. The SVA has outlined a number of steps colleges and universities can take to create a useful and effective veterans center on campus. As a first priority, it recommends developing a veterans task force that gathers members of several departments such as financial aid, student services, academics, enrollment and faculty.
STEP BY STEP
Surveying vets on campus helps to assess the needs of student veterans. Many may be concerned with application fees or tuition rates. The admissions process might need to be streamlined as it relates to veterans. Staff members might need to be trained to work specifically on veteran admissions.
The next step is to create a student veterans’ office. That process includes hiring a veterans’ services liaison or coordinator who serves as a single point of contact to create programming and provide referrals. Another good idea is to offer veterans affairs work study positions to student veterans. These students can be trained to work with fellow veteran and prospective veteran students. The SVA Website has information on applying for VA work study.
Another benefit of having a veterans center on campus is that it establishes partnerships with the organizations that support veterans, servicemembers and their eligible family members. Some partnership suggestions are the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, AmVets, Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom Program Managers, and the VA medical centers and local offices.
Once the veterans center is up and running, the SVA recommends colleges take the time to evaluate their programs and success rates. A plan can be invented to monitor and track the enrollment. This might be based on the number of applications received, the number of veteran students accepted, veteran enrollment, the number of veterans assisted by the center’s office, retention and graduation rates.
Veteran surveys can also be conducted along with student feedback and veteran committee recommendations. Once this data is all available, the veteran programs can be re-evaluated and adjusted to ensure more success. Nothing beats going straight to the source to evaluate a veterans’ program.
FROM ONE VET TO ANOTHER
One year ago, Sergeant Dan Wilden of the Army reserves finished active duty and started attending the University of Houston. Wilden, 24 and a junior at Houston, is very frank about the many reasons why veterans helping veterans on a college campus is more advantageous than help from an average civilian student. “First off, common ground allows for quick communication and rapport to be built,” he said.
“Second is pride. No veteran wants to have some 19-year-old kid tell them how to do something. And third is social boundaries. What I mean by that is that some students are against the war, but don’t yet understand that doesn’t mean you should be against the troops as well. Some student might miss the mark or say something wrong to a veteran and completely shut them down. So having veterans helping veterans is much more beneficial. But there is also one more problem: You have to get the veterans to want or seek out the help in the first place, and that is not an easy thing to do.” ♦