Nontraditional Student Veterans' Experience with Campus Support Services Designed to Assist with Degree Completion PDF Download

Author: Tamela Evans
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Student affairs services
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Author's abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the nontraditional student veteran experience in higher education. The research question guiding this study was: How do nontraditional student veterans describe their experiences with support serves in higher education as they progress toward degree completion? Knowles (1984) Adult Learning Theory and the concepts of social and academic integration proposed by Bean and Metzner (1985) were used to conceptualize participant experience. I employed a design of Narrative Inquiry with interviews to explore the narratives of nine nontraditional student veterans enrolled in higher education. Five themes emerged from the thematic data analysis: (a) Nontraditional student veterans engage in purposeful pursuits, (b) Nontraditional student veterans experience "Military Gap" in higher education, (c) Institutional policies hinder degree completion for nontraditional student veterans, (d) Nontraditional student veterans are less likely to engage with student support services when perceived as ineffective from prior experience, and (e) Utilize tenets of Adult Learning Theory and Environmental Press as a guide in supporting nontraditional student veterans. These themes illustrate concerns and areas of support services that can be improved to support degree completion for these students. Concluding recommendations address providing supportive policy, programming, and services for nontraditional student veteran assistance in degree completion.

Author: Robert Ackerman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118184785
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 115

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Book Description
As the United States? wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue, increasing numbers of students who experienced combat will enroll in colleges and universities. There is mounting evidence that these veterans will require support unique to their needs beyond the processing of financial aid paperwork from the Veterans Administration. Obviously, combat frequently inflicts injuries, both physical and mental, that will require attention, but veterans are a unique population in other ways as well. Soldiers experience extraordinary bonding in wartime, and colleges can provide opportunities for that fellowship to be a source of support and connection. Female veterans will bring a new, nontraditional perspective to campus, and student service organizations should pay careful attention. There is also a significant group of students who leave for service and return?under the best of circumstances, they need accommodation to succeed. Institutions of higher education traditionally have responded to the needs of special student populations by developing programs and offering services. This volume contains information about programmatic initiatives that can help create a welcoming environment for veterans, one that encourages serious, creative involvement. The authors bring broad experience and deliberate consideration to bear on questions that are only becoming more important to the entire spectrum of American colleges and universities. This is the 126th volume of the Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly report series New Directions for Student Services, an indispensable resource for vice presidents of student affairs, deans of students, student counselors, and other student services professionals. Each issue of New Directions for Student Services offers guidelines and programs for aiding students in their total development: emotional, social, physical, and intellectual.

Author: Florence A. Hamrick
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118240146
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
Called to Serve Over the past several years, veteran enrollment in universities, community colleges, and vocational programs has increased dramatically. Called to Serve offers academics and administrators a handbook highlighting the most current research, program initiatives, and recommendations for creating policies and services that can help student veterans and service members succeed, including: Strategies for organizing and staffing services for veterans and service members Suggestions for creating institutional infrastructures and policies related to enrollment, transfer, and degree completion Frameworks for working with service members with physical, emotional, and learning disabilities Praise for Called to Serve "An excellent resource tool for key university leadership who desire to support the success of incoming and current student veterans." —Renee T. Finnegan, colonel (retired), executive director, Military Initiatives and Partnerships, Office of the President, University of Louisville "One of the more compelling issues of our time is the integration of returning veterans and service members into our society following their service to our country. This handbook will be a critical tool in guiding higher education professionals in developing strategies to ensure their success in college." —Kevin Kruger, president, NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education "This timely book explains and presents a new meaning of 'called to service.' The issues and vignettes bring to life real situations that will be facing all campuses. I highly recommend this valuable resource to those looking forward and not back." —Gregory Roberts, executive director, ACPA–College Student Educators International "I have waited over forty years for such a comprehensive handbook to be written about the challenges, opportunities, and rewards that are associated with providing higher education to America's veterans—our future leaders. Well done." —Robert E. Wallace, Vietnam veteran and executive director, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., Washington Office

Author: Bruce Kelley
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000974243
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
This book is intended for everyone in higher education – whether in the classroom, student affairs, administration, admissions, health services or faculty development – who is, or expects to be teaching, advising, or serving student veterans. This book is the outcome of a partnership between the Center for Teaching and Learning and the office of Disabilities Services at the University of South Dakota that led to the development of the Fides program whose goal was to establish high-quality, evidence-based development opportunities specifically designed to enable key university constituencies—the faculty, staff, and administration—to understand their role in providing extraordinary learning experiences for veterans. The program was funded through a congressionally directed FIPSE grant. Materials from Fides have been featured by prominent educational organizations, and are being used by the National Center for PTSD, colleges, universities, and boards of regents across the US.This book provides the background and guidelines you need to leverage the strengths that student veterans bring to your institution, to ease the challenges they face in transitioning into higher education, to facilitate their learning, and to ensure their successful graduation.Student veterans bring many strengths to your campus – maturity, significant life experiences, and cross-cultural awareness. They are highly motivated to serve others and value education. Student veterans may however face significant challenges. Student veterans have typically been out of high school for some time, where they may have earned average grades. Many are married with children and more than a few are single parents. They are approximately 20% less likely than non-veterans to attain a bachelor degree and slightly more likely to drop out of higher education without attaining a degree of any sort. Deployments extend their time to degree, and multiple deployments can significantly delay graduation.The challenges associated with transitioning from the military into higher education are heightened when a student has a disability – physical, psychological, or emotional. Common disabilities that are emerging from Iraq and Afghanistan include amputations, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder.To enable student veterans to succeed, institutions need to develop holistic initiatives to mediate student veterans’ transition and persistence, and develop appropriate programs and services that recognize their skills, family responsibilities, and distinct needs. This book outlines best practices for student affairs; describes innovative approaches to administrative services and support; suggests streamlining policies and procedures to make the campus “veteran friendly”; proposes ideas for academic programs; looks at the implications for course structure and design; considers the classroom environment; and explores how classroom policies impact student veterans. One chapter examines the issue of student veteran success specifically from the point of view of two-year institutions. The authors stress the importance of collaborative approaches across divisions and functions providing all stakeholders on campus with a comprehensive view of how they can support each to ensure the success of their student veterans.

Author: David DiRamio
Publisher: The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience
ISBN: 1942072163
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
With the passage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill in 2008, more than 1.4 million service members and their families became eligible for higher education benefits, and veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan enrolled in colleges and universities in record numbers. The first wave of research about these new student veterans focused primarily on describing their characteristics and the transition from military service to civilian life and the college campus. This new edited collection presents findings from the second wave of research about student veterans, with a focus on data-driven evidence of academic success factors, including persistence, retention, degree completion, and employment after college. An invaluable resource for educators poised to enter the next phase of supporting military-connected college students.

Author: Jan Arminio
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317810562
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Student Veterans and Service Members in Higher Education bridges theory to practice in order to better prepare practitioners in their efforts to increase the success of veteran and military service members in higher education. Bringing together perspectives from a researcher, practitioner, and student veteran, this unique author team provides a comprehensive but manageable text reviewing relevant research literature and presenting accessible strategies for working with students. This book explores the facilitators and barriers of student veteran learning and engagement, how culture informs the current student veteran experience, and best practices for creating and maintaining a campus that allows for the success of these students. The latest to publish in the Key Issues on Diverse College Students series, this volume is a valuable resource for student affairs and higher education professionals to better serve veteran and military service members in higher education.

Author: Gladys Newbury
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 61

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Book Description
Student veterans make up a unique non-traditional student demographic whose characteristics can pose challenges to achieving their academic goals regardless of financial benefits such as the GI bill educational aid. The decrease in education completion rates among student veterans over the past several decades has been drastic and requires more attention to ensure academic success. The focus of this study is to explore the perceptions of student veterans in regards to services and transitions upon graduation for college and the identification of that campus being identified as military friendly. Utilizing a cross-sectional method, surveys were distributed via email to student veterans at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM). Forty-nine student veterans responded to the survey, which ask questions relating to demographics, transitions, barriers to graduation, and satisfaction of services. More than 83% of students either agreed or slightly agreed that CSUSM is a military friendly campus. Many of the respondents believed that services such as a transitional class, student veteran orientation, mentorship programs, and internship programs assist with their transition in and out of school. In addition, a majority of the student veterans either agreed or slightly agreed 85.5% (N=41) to being confident that they will graduate as planned. Further research should study the efficacy of any one best practice such as student veteran orientation, transitional class, internship or mentorship program.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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Book Description
Veterans of the United States military have been attending institutions of higher education dating back to World War II and the passage of the first G.I. Bill in 1944. In 2009, the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill was passed, which has offered student veterans significant assistance in the completion of their postsecondary education. Over one million veterans have attended postsecondary institutions using these benefits. With this recent influx of veteran students, campuses have struggled to respond to their needs. Though a great deal of historical research exists about student veterans, this literature cannot cover all of the challenges that today’s student veterans face. Additionally, much of the research is focused on the transition veterans experience when they exit the military and enter college. Though it is undoubtedly a challenging transition, it is not the only challenge they will face in their college careers. Little research exists regarding how to support this nontraditional population of students after they arrive on campus; similarly, many campus resources are focused on support for incoming and graduating students, and less on support for current students. This study examined how campuses can best support student veterans throughout their college careers. The main research question was, “What type of support services are necessary to retain and ensure the success of student veterans during their time on campus?” A needs assessment model was employed, utilizing quantitative research in the form of a survey and qualitative research in the form of one-on-one-interviews. Survey data was collected from over 300 student veterans, and interviews were conducted with five. The results of this needs assessment suggested that a focus on critical services (such as admissions outreach and benefits guidance) while also providing opportunities for students to connect with each other were critical to the success of student veterans at this particular institution. Though these results cannot necessarily be generalized and applied to all institutions or to all student veterans, this study provides a template for other institutions to conduct their own needs assessments.

Author: Glenn Altschuler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199720428
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
On rare occasions in American history, Congress enacts a measure so astute, so far-reaching, so revolutionary, it enters the language as a metaphor. The Marshall Plan comes to mind, as does the Civil Rights Act. But perhaps none resonates in the American imagination like the G.I. Bill. In a brilliant addition to Oxford's acclaimed Pivotal Moments in American History series, historians Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin offer a compelling and often surprising account of the G.I. Bill and its sweeping and decisive impact on American life. Formally known as the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, it was far from an obvious, straightforward piece of legislation, but resulted from tense political maneuvering and complex negotiations. As Altschuler and Blumin show, an unlikely coalition emerged to shape and pass the bill, bringing together both New Deal Democrats and conservatives who had vehemently opposed Roosevelt's social-welfare agenda. For the first time in American history returning soldiers were not only supported, but enabled to pursue success--a revolution in America's policy towards its veterans. Once enacted, the G.I. Bill had far-reaching consequences. By providing job training, unemployment compensation, housing loans, and tuition assistance, it allowed millions of Americans to fulfill long-held dreams of social mobility, reshaping the national landscape. The huge influx of veterans and federal money transformed the modern university and the surge in single home ownership vastly expanded America's suburbs. Perhaps most important, as Peter Drucker noted, the G.I. Bill "signaled the shift to the knowledge society." The authors highlight unusual or unexpected features of the law--its color blindness, the frankly sexist thinking behind it, and its consequent influence on race and gender relations. Not least important, Altschuler and Blumin illuminate its role in individual lives whose stories they weave into this thoughtful account. Written with insight and narrative verve by two leading historians, The G.I. Bill makes a major contribution to the scholarship of postwar America.

Author: Carlos Antonio Garanzuay
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The purpose of this study is to identify non-cognitive attributes learned from enlisted military service that can guide student-veterans to success in higher education. Community colleges are showing poor completion rates for all the efforts toward student success and completion. Non-traditional students persist to completion and student success using a predominant set of non-cognitive attributes to overcome academic and cultural deficiencies typical of their demographic. As a niche subset of the non-traditional population, student-veterans are equipped with various non-cognitive attributes gained during their enlisted military service which they use to face unique challenges related to transitioning out of the military culture and into the culture of higher education. This study sought to capture and ascertain the lived experiences of successfully completed student-veterans that managed to effectively transition out of the military culture and into the culture of higher education utilizing a primarily grounded theory approach. The researcher performed a qualitative study to identify and understand the types of non-cognitive attributes student-veterans obtained during enlisted military service which were later used to earn academic success and program completion in a community college, or postsecondary education. Eighteen successfully completed student-veterans were gathered through snowball-sampling, which represented a diverse, intersected crosscutting of demographics. The researcher conducted interviews implementing a semi-structured, open-ended interview protocol. This flexible interview decorum supported the process of data gathering as veterans shared their personal experiences transitioning from the military culture into the culture of higher education, earning a completion credential and academic success. The guiding research questions of this study included: 1) What attributes learned through enlisted military experience translate to student success in higher education?; 2) What attributes learned through enlisted military experience correlate with the non-cognitive skills exhibited by non-traditional students that lead to success in higher education?; 3) How can student-veterans effectively apply their enlisted military experience as it relates to their student experience in higher education? This study identified eleven themes which surfaced from interviews with research participants: Commitment/Discipline, Communication/Self-Advocacy, Leadership/Team-building/Military Core values, Goal-setting and Planning, Adaptability, Responsibility/Accountability, Self-awareness, Confidence in self/ability, Time Management, Perspective of risk/consequence, and Caution. The three predominant non-cognitive attributes characteristic of the larger non-traditional student population were present among student-veterans, although only two were identified as among the predominant attributes in this study. The following themes emerged from interviews as opportunities student-veterans can best apply their non-cognitive attributes: Identify scenarios which military attributes are appropriate and applicable, Network/Seek guidance, Establish personal habits/routines, Plan/prepare for transition before separation, Adapt rather than impose, Exercise cultural awareness/understanding, and Identify parallel structures that exist in both military and higher education worlds. The emergent themes led to recommendations for community college and higher education leaders to develop cultural competencies on campus which validate the experiences and identities of student-veterans, build cultural acclimation bridges that allow student-veterans to wholly transfer their identity and attributes to their postsecondary experience, and manufacture an integration process that elevates student-veteran completion rates that may also positively impact other non-traditional student demographics for greater overall completion rates and student success.