Bringing Veterans Together: A New Model for Support at Community Colleges

Published
Written by
After serving our country in the Armed Forces, many veterans find themselves unsupported by community colleges. Thankfully, several campuses are hoping to change the landscape of support for veterans.
Many students join the military after high school in part to pay for a post-secondary education after their service is complete. However, veterans moving from active service to a college environment often have more than a little difficulty making the transition. To help the process, numerous community colleges are providing the support veterans need to have a successful college experience.
 
Creating a National Model in Arizona
 
According to a recent report in the East Valley Tribune, five Maricopa community colleges will be offering more services to the veterans that enroll after active duty. The East Valley Veterans Center is slated to open in January, 2011 and will serve the campuses of Chandler-Gilbert, Mesa, Scottsdale, Gateway and Rio Salado. The center will offer a convenient, centralized location for veterans entering one of these colleges to find out about benefits, admissions and services available to them.
 
Yvonne Lawrence, coordinator of the recruitment program for military education at Rio Salado College, told the Tribune that the basic idea behind the center is to simplify the college process for veterans.
 
"We’re basically trying to cut some of the red tape in getting veterans enrolled, getting them access to their educational benefits from the VA and reintegration from active-duty service to civilian life," Lawrence said.
 
The Arizona center will be staffed by four full-time members, plus part-time staff as needed. The center will also provide work-study positions, so that student veterans have the opportunity to work in office positions while attending school.
 
Veterans Find Support at San Francisco State
 
Currently about 400 San Francisco State student veterans and another 400 of their dependents are attending the college through GI benefits. To address the growing number of veterans at this college, the school has opened their Veterans Services Center last month. The center will provide a space for students to collect information, seek counsel or meet other students in a similar situation to their own.
 
The center's Veteran's Association Certifying Official Rogelio Manaois told the Golden Gate Xpress, "A lot of new enlistees are going into the military for the educational benefits. Now, veterans are going to schools they never could have afforded before because of the GI Bill. We're making sure that this population that has a unique background is getting all of the services available to them."
 
Some students have said the center is a welcome addition to SF State, since some community colleges in the area did not offer much in the way of support services to veterans. However, California community colleges hope to change that perception, with new programs to support veterans, particularly women vets.
 
California Community Colleges Helping Women Vets
 
According to a report in Our Weekly, California community colleges are making their student veterans a new priority. These colleges are banding together to provide a host of support service to veterans entering college, from basic information to individual counseling. To introduce the new services available, a conference was recently held in Pasadena, titled, "Veterans: The Community College's Best Kept Secret."
 
Recent statistics from the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics show that as many as 2 million veterans live in California. Of that number, 8 percent are women. California community colleges also hope to address this specific demographic with support services geared specifically to women vets.
 
Kentucky Partners with Cincinnati College to Support Vets
 
Gateway Community and Technical College in Kentucky has also opened a Veteran Support Center at one of its campuses, and it is partnering with another neighboring school to provide even more services. The Cincinnati State Technical and Community College will offer services under its Veterans Upward Bound program, which received funding from a federal grant, according to a report on the Cincinnati State website. This program offers veterans a wide range of services, including refresher courses, career advisement and financial aid assistance.
 
Patricia A. Goodman, dean of institutional research, planning and effectiveness at Gateway, led the project to create the center. She said, "Having a Veteran Support Center has been Gateway goal for some time. The Veterans Upward Bound program available through the partnership with Cincinnati State was key to getting the center off the ground."
 
Moving from active duty to college has not been an easy tradition for vets in the past. Thanks to innovative programs like these, more veterans are getting the support they need to succeed in community college and beyond.

Additional Resources [+]
{"http://www.communitycollegereview.com/articles/304":{"comments":{"data":[]}}}

Previous Article

Why Low-Income Community College Students Achieve Success at Universities
Overcoming the odds, low-income community college students are poised to become top performers once they transfer to a four-year university. Learn about the new study that has identified the successful qualities of low-income community college students.

Next Article

Wiser and Older: The Movement to Enroll Community College Students Over the Age of 50 Wiser and Older: The Movement to Enroll Community College Students Over the Age of 50
Who says college is just for the 18 - 22 year old crowd? In fact, more community colleges are recruiting students over the age of 50 - and for good reason!

comments powered by Disqus

Recent Articles:

10 Ideas for Improving Community College Completion Rates
10 Ideas for Improving Community College Completion Rates
Published May 14, 2013
Community colleges do not traditionally boast high completion rates, but there are many ideas in the works at schools across the country to bring those rates up. We look at a few that are making headlines today.

New York College Gets Big Donation, New Name New York College Gets Big Donation, New Name
We report on a large donation given to New Community College in New York – possibly one of the biggest donations to ever be given to a two-year school. Now, the school is changing its name and using the money to improve completion rates and provide grants to eligible students.

Pima Community College Placed on Probation Pima Community College Placed on Probation
We explore the reasons behind the recent probation of Pima Community College, and what the Arizona school plans to do to bring their credentials back up to par once again.

  • More articles: About Community College, Choosing a School, Student Issues / Attending College, College Policies, Career Training
    • RSS/XML Feed RSS

    About Community College:

    Student Populations

    With such a diverse demographic, community college students from all walks of life can find helpful articles in this section.

    Most Popular Articles:

    Note: Data has been gathered from the Dept. of Education, schools, and commercial data sources.