Running Head: STUDENT VETERANS

Student Veterans: Perceptions and Awareness

Kristina Bryant Case
EDL 764
Wright State University
March 16, 2011

Outline
Literature Review
Methods
Interviews
Web Document Review
Conclusion & Implications
Recommendations for future practice
Literature Review
Student Veterans (SV) have been identified at institutions of higher education as a group
of students with special needs. This is evident through the many articles and studies conducted
about student veterans, through the offices especially set up to address student veteran concerns,
and through the special circumstance allowances they are frequently entitled to at colleges and
universities. But are these special treatments enough to make our student veterans successful? Do
student veterans feel that their needs are met? These are some of the questions this study will
seek to answer about the veterans and student veteran conditions here at Wright State University
(WSU).
In the article What admissions offices can do for Veterans, the article seeks to identify
some of the ways Admissions Offices can improve the student veteran experience. Hoover, 2011,
uses examples from what other institutions have done to improve their services as a way to
suggest that other institutions should pick up the same methods. The articles first paragraph
addresses the issue that many institutions and Admissions Offices consider themselves to be
veteran friendly, but are they really? Some of the examples of improvements were waiving
ACT/SAT & GPA requirements in exchange for 23 year old former soldiers to submit 2
recommendation letters and a personal essay. Hoover also suggests allowing military experience
to count for college credit, extending deadlines for applications, allowing deferred admissions,
no tuition late fees, online placement testing, counselors being available for instant messaging

and virtual advice, and to re-examine websites to make sure that veteran needs are addressed.
Some of these services are available at WSU, although not out of concern for veterans, but
because of how WSU operates generally.
Lipka, 2011, in her article To support student vets, be visible and engage other students,
grant winners advise, reports on several colleges and institutions that have received grants to
improve the student veteran experience and develop best practices. Some of these suggestions to
improve include: Improved Visibility, institutions should have a designated office and visible
office space for veterans to located to have their questions answered and special orientation
sessions that include information relevant to student veterans
Student Veteran Recognition as an underrepresented group at the institution
Vet Friendly Zones, these zones would be offices of administration, staff, and faculty offices that
would have an at least basic knowledge about student veteran issues and could answer questions
and go the extra mile to help those veterans out
Student Veteran Lounge, a space for student veterans to go and to be used by other students just
like them, a place to connect and find other students who can show them the ropes
Counselor/Student Veteran Relationships, can often be strained because of the stigmas associated
with military and mental health issues. Counselors should try to connect to veterans in non
threatening settings and get to know them so that student veterans are trusting of the counselors
and may feel inclined to reach out for help.
Institutional Staff/VA Officials Relationship, the institutions designated student veteran staff
member should make every effort to connect to local VA officials in order to get information
about students and to give information about students. Communication between these two parties
is important because it allows the institution to get a potential background on the students

otherwise not provided and it gives the institution an additional way of helping the students in
needed.
Online Tool Kit, an online manual that student veterans can access from anywhere that gives
them the tools to be successful in a college setting from admissions, to registering for classes, to
how to apply for graduation etc.
The next two studies outline the issues that student veterans often have in transition. The
studies are Rumann & Hamrick, 2010, Student veterans in transition and Ackerman, DiRamio &
Mitchell, 2009, Transitions: combat veterans as college students. The studies outline four areas
in which student veterans have transition issues: Practical Issues, Role Incongruities, Stress &
Mental Health, and Maturity Issues.
Practical Issues- Student veterans report difficulty in getting their email accounts set up,
getting their financial aid and GI Bill in order, registering for classes, finding an academic
advisor, buying books, and getting their questions answered. According to the Maslow Hierarchy
of Needs, if these basic student needs are difficult to meet for student veterans than their ability
to step up to the next level is stunted and difficult.
Role Incongruities- In the military student veterans were given orders daily, they were
told what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and when to do it. Very little was left for the student
veterans to choose or ascertain themselves. This is the exact opposite of college life. Professors
very often leave the students to create their own ideas, projects, papers, with sometimes very
little guidance. This is an integral part of the learning process needed to be successful in the real
world. There is not any hand holding in the real world, employers will expect students to often be
self directed and create on their own. They will not provide a rubric for students to follow step by

step to accomplish every task. This is frustrating for student veterans who have for a long time
been told exactly what to do to be successful.
Stress & Mental Health- the stigma associated with PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder, and other combat related mental health issues, GAD Generalized Anxiety Disorder etc,
is debilitating. Soldiers often lie on their post deployment screenings in order to avoid seeming
weak. Many cases of PTSD and other disorders go untreated. In the college setting this can
manifest itself in many different ways including trust issues, inability to form relationships and
connections with other students, overwhelming emotions, easily flaring tempers, depression,
losing interest in things the student formerly found joy and excitement in, etc.
Maturity- Student veterans often have a hard time building relationships with their
younger co-eds. Student veterans find other students to be immature who are preoccupied with
the wrong things such as partying, not completing the work needed for in-class discussions,
skipping class, and being disrespectful during class time. Although the age disparity is often only
five years, the life experience gained in those five years, especially the maturity needed to
survive military life, gives student veterans an entirely different outlook on life.
These transition issues can keep student veterans from being successful is they continue
to be unaddressed. In addition to the transition and adjustment issues there are several articles
and studies dedicated to the benefits that student veterans receive and the complicated system in
place that hold student veterans back from getting all the benefits they deserve. In the next three
articles and studies they issues relating to veterans benefits are discussed. In Maximizing
Financial Aid for Veterans, Chitty, 2008, discusses what administrators can do to help veterans
take advantage of education benefits as well as a detailed summary of the new Post 9/11 GI Bill
and discusses the issues surrounding why veterans are not taking advantage of these benefits.

In 2009 the Children & Youth Funding Report released an article about schools
partnering with Veterans Affairs (VA) to help veterans pay for their education. The new
program is called the Yellow Ribbon Program. It allows institutions to help cover costs of
educations for students veterans that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition
rates. It is mostly used by private institutions to give veterans more choices about choosing a
college. The institution can contribute 50% of the expenses and the agreement with the VA will
match the additional funding.
Finally Simon, Negrusa, & Warner, 2010, in a short longitudinal study from 1991-2005
examined the educational benefits of veterans and did an analysis of their benefit usage. The
article discussed the history of the GI Bill and the changes to the Bill. The study only includes
the GI Bill right before the most recent, the post 9/11 GI Bill being the most recent and the
Montgomery Chapter 30 GI Bill being the one in effect since 1985 until 2009. The study mostly
focused on the attraction of higher quality youth into military service, which in turn were also
more likely to separate from the military and more likely to use the benefits. Therefore the
researchers concluded that these youth joined the military simply for the education benefits. The
financial side of student veterans issues is important, the studies I read gave background
information and demonstrated a need for student veterans to have college staff and administrators
to have a clear knowledge of how the benefits.
Interviews & Document Review
For this study five student veterans and two WSU admissions counselors who shall all
remain anonymous were interviewed. The websites of many offices on campus were reviewed
including the Office of Admissions, the Office of Financial Aid, the main web page etc. The
student veterans responded in variety of ways but several themes emerged in their interviews

about their experiences here at WSU. The themes coincided with the Student Veterans in
Transition (SVT) study; the themes were practical issues, stress, maturity, and role
incongruities. There were a few themes that arose not mentioned in the SVT study and those
were difficulty in forming relationships with students and mentors, pride of military service,
avoidance of military association, and irritation with not having their needs met or questions
answered. In interviewing the veterans, the students seemed to be aware that the services at WSU
were better than at other places, a few of the SVs mentioned checking out other schools that did
not have an office of Veteran Affairs. Students were overall reluctant to answer questions and
acknowledged that most offices at WSU knew very little about the specifics of student veteran
needs. The admissions counselors were almost identical in their responses and since there were
only two, themes that stood out were difficult to identify. The admissions counselors were quick
to try to refer to the Veterans Affairs office. They wanted that the questions were answered
accurately. This seems to be the mode of operation for most of WSU, send the students with
questions to the source. While this is not a bad practice, sending veteran students running around
campus to get their questions answered is not necessarily good customer service. The admissions
counselors referred to the admissions requirements for non-traditional students but nowhere in
the materials they handed over were the words "student veteran" specifically mentioned. The
counselors also mentioned the ROTC programs on campus, were aware of the GI Bill but
unfamiliar with how it works, had heard of the military experience as college credits, but also
unfamiliar with how that worked. As mentioned earlier, the items from the first article are
implemented at WSU, extending deadlines for applications, allowing deferred admissions, online
placement testing, counselors being available for instant messaging and virtual advice, however,
these were not implemented for veterans and are not outlined on the website or the materials

handed out for veterans to be made aware of. In the web document review, the websites of the
office do not at all mention veterans. Even on the Office of Veterans Affairs webpage, there is no
mention of how to apply. The web pages are often hard to navigate but are rich in information.
Conclusions & Implications
In conclusion, the conditions of student veterans at Wright State University are fair. There
is a lot to be improved, but overall veterans issues seemed to be addressed, especially in the
Office of Veterans Affairs (OVA). Student veterans seem to be drawn to WSU because of its
central location, cost, concern of veterans issues, and distance to a military base. College staff
and administrators seem to know the bare minimum if any information at all about student
veterans. Clearly the OVA are not doing a good enough job of outreach. If their mission is to
serve student veterans they should advocate for their students and teach other offices how to
answer questions.
Future Practice Recommendations
There are several changes and updates that WSU could make to improve the student
veteran experience but here are just a few that may not cost a lot, but would involve designating
services to veterans. Admissions Counselors should have a designated counselor to familiarize
her/himself with Veterans issues, much like they have for home schooled students or PSEO
(Post Secondary Education Option) students. The same should happen with other offices on
campus such as Financial Aid, Bursar, and Academic Advising (University College). These
people in the offices could establish the vet friendly zones. The VA office could do more
outreach to other offices and could hold their student veterans more accountable by having check
in sessions with them once a quarter to make sure their needs are being met. There should be
specialized orientations, UVC classes, and first year academic advisors for veterans. A physical

space for veterans could be designated for veterans with simple amenities like a microwave and a
couch. A task force or committee could design a Veterans Guidebook to Wright State University
as suggested in the Literature Review. Overall, there needs to be a little more hand holding for
student veterans. As mentioned in the Literature Review, student veterans are use to being told
exactly what they need to do and are less self directed, so to get them started, WSU should make
the very first steps a little closer to their former lives so they can gradually transition to self
direction.

References
Ackerman, R., DiRamio, D., & Mitchell, R. (2009). Transitions: Combat veterans as college
students. New Directions for Student Services, (126), 5-14. doi:10.1002/ss.311
Allen, D. & Haynie, J. Beyond Yellow Ribbons: Higher Education Comes to the Aid of
Veterans. Student Affairs Leader, v. 36 issue 23, 2008, p. 1-4.
Chitty, H. (2008). Maximizing Financial Aid for Veterans. University Business, 11(9), 43-44.
Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Hoover, E. (2011, February 9). What admissions offices can do for veterans. The Chronicle of
Higher Education, p. 2.
Lipka, S. (2011, March 8). To support student veterans, be visible and engage other students,
grant winners advise. The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. 1.
Lokken, J. M., Pfeffer, D. S., McAuley, J., & Strong, C. (2009). A statewide approach to creating
veteran-friendly campuses. New Directions for Student Services, (126), 45-54.
doi:10.1002/ss.315
More than 700 Schools Partner with VA to Help Veterans Pay for Education. (2009). Children &
Youth Funding Report, 15. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Mulrine, A. (2009). A Yellow Ribbon of Benefits for Vets. U.S. News & World Report, 146(8),
70. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Rumann, C. B., & Hamrick, F. A. (2010). Student Veterans in Transition: Re-enrolling after War
Zone Deployments. Journal of Higher Education, 81(4), 431-458. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Simon, C. J., Negrusa, S., & Warner, J. T. (2010). Educational benefits and military service: an
analysis of enlistment, reenlistment, and veterans' benefit usage 1991-2005. Economic Inquiry,
48(4), 1008-1031. Doi:10.1111/J.1465-7295.2009.00233.X