Preface

War time is never easy on anyone. I cannot imagine that it is something that our country goes looking for but we always plan for it. For a long time, the word “veteran” was used to describe a different time period. Veteran services on college campuses used to be for soldiers returning from Vietnam. Now, there is not an American out there without six degrees of separation from someone who is either serving in the military, has a son or daughter in active duty, or has lost a neighbor or friend to a road side bomb in Iraq or Afghanistan. On college campuses, we face many critical issues. However, in war time the critical issue that rises to the top of our agendas is the reestablishment of veteran services and addressing the issue that America’s historic GI Bill, which that once paid full college tuition at most pubic and private four-year universities, now only covers a small portion of the costs. For this article, I researched and evaluated the rise of veterans attending colleges and universities. I also reviewed the pressures on the Federal Government to update and improve the GI Bill.

Description of the Issue

Today’s United States veterans returning from military service are experiencing inadequate Federal funding from the GI Bill and lack of services from American colleges and universities. The media is reporting that the famous historic GI Bill, also known as the “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act 1944”, has shifted from an acknowledgment of service to a recruitment tool. Since September 11, 2001 colleges and universities have seen a rise of veterans and increased use of the GI Bill benefits. The results show that college campuses were not prepared to handle the increase of GI Bill advising and the mental state of returning veterans. The United States Government has allowed the GI Bill program to wear down for decades and is now facing political pressure to reshape the bill and decided what its purpose and meaning is for today’s veterans.

Issue’s Importance in the World of Higher Education

Some of the issues that make this critically important for higher education are that the United States Military are now an all-volunteer military, which means that the GI Bill has shifted from a reward for service to an incentive for enlistment. Higher education’s popularity has often rested on the GI Bill. In January 1993, novelist James A. Michener wrote that the original GI Bill was one of the two or three finest laws Congress had ever passed. In a report of “Who’s Who in America”, Dr. Amos Yoder wrote that “the GI Bill made an important contribution to our society by making it possible for a sizable percentage of talented men to obtain a higher education, which equipped them to be come leaders in our society”.(1) Fast forward to the present day where returning soldiers are getting lost in the outdated GI Bill paperwork while colleges and universities are missing the opportunity to make an effort to improve the process of recruiting and retaining veterans.

Debate

Today’s debate on the GI bill focuses on how complicated and less generous the bill’s benefits are compared to World War II and Vietnam. In the story “Complex GI Bill makes for a rocky road from combat to college” USA Today’s Mary Beth Marklein describes the new challenges colleges are faced with such as managing the unstable enrollment of the National Guardsmen and Reservists. Prior to September 11 the number of service members attending college was at a flat rate. Marklein describes that now nearly 440, 000 service personnel are attending about 6,800 institutions that range from truck-driving academics to graduate programs. The results show that there is a 24% increase in enrollment since 2001.(2) In the article “They don’t’ always fit the GI Bill” Jon Brier of USA Today shares how National Guardsmen and Reservists who typically could attend college and only have to give up a weekend and a couple weeks in the summer for drills, now are expected to be called for full time duty for periods up to a year. This has put a huge stress on colleges and universities to manage these servicemen’s’ academic recorders and has added complexity to the GI Bill.(3) National Guardsmen and Reservists received different benefits than full-time active servicemen. Due to the lack of attention towards the GI Bill, the Federal Government has not increased benefits to the National Guard or Reservists to compensate their increase in service.

Many veterans say the GI Bill does not come close to meeting their financial needs and often times are difficult to obtain at the college institution they are trying to attend. Marklein of USA Today reported that a Government Accountability Office report issued in 2005 estimated that 82% of the nation’s colleges enroll National Guardsmen and Reservists, but that the colleges, mostly likely do not have polices in place to help these reservists attend and adapt to their schedule.6 Colleges are also discovering that the GI Bill does not cover all tuition and text books costs like it once did. In the article “Making college affordable for veterans is critical”, Northeastern Wisconsin Technical College adjunct instructor Charles Howes talks about how the original GI Bill of 1944 fully covered tuition, books and fees at any American college or job training program even if was private or public. However, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the current GI Bill only covers 70% of the tuition at a four-year public institution.(4)

Position

There are many approaches that colleges and universities can take to address the critical issue of rise in veterans and changes to the GI Bill. However, first and foremost, higher education needs to face the reality that the educational benefits of the GI Bill have shifted from an acknowledgment to an incentive. Even though a solider might see a college education as an incentive, the Federal Government continues to see it as an investment. Higher education can also see returning soldiers as an investment in the diversity of thought and experience in the classroom. However, before that can become a reality, higher education needs to address the issue of being unprepared to serve returning veterans. Gwendolyn Dungy, executive director of the National Association of Student Personal Administrators told Mary Beth Marklein in her article for USA Today that “We (as in higher education) owe veterans. They have to be thought of as a special population. We’re sitting here and we are not ready for them”.(5)

A challenge facing colleges and universities is taking responsibility to ensure that returning servicemen take advantage of their GI Bill benefits. For many colleges, there is pressure to increase Financial Aid recipients. Why not take this opportunity to recruit our returning veteran? Servicemen are signing up for the GI Bill when they enlist. The Department of Defense said that 95% of Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard signed up for the GI Bill at the same time they enlisted. Colleges and universities need to be available to help, be prepared and be flexible with processing the GI Bill. In his article “Making college affordable for veterans is critical” Charles Howes shared that in September 2000, at a House hearing, George Boggs, president of the American Association of Community College (AACC) stress the advantages of direct marking of community colleges to military veterans. Howes’ article offers different examples of what kind of services community colleges can offer veterans. One example is the Fayetteville Technical Community College North Carolina which funds a veterans’ coordinator who specializes in evaluating veterans with physical or mental disabilities and helps with connecting them to employment training programs.(6) The main point is that veterans are now becoming a “special group” of students that also need to be recruited and provided service to be retained.

Recommendations

Even though Charles Howes shared examples of community colleges making an effort to recruit and retain veterans he expressed that what veterans really want is recognition and accreditation for their lost time and sacrifice and for the experience gained in military occupations.(7) A long term goal for colleges and universities could be to offer credit for military service. For that to happen, the U.S. Department of Defense would need to start meeting with the U.S. Department of Education to develop curriculum for particular areas of military service that can be used for college credit. This approach might help the need to increase benefits for college and university tuition on the GI Bill.

A short term goal for colleges and universities to help address the critical rise in military servicemen returning to college campuses is to increase advising and outreach efforts highlighting veteran’s services related to the GI Bill. Citrus Community College in Glendora, California is now offering a course called “From Boots to Books” that helps veterans adjust to civilian/academic life. They are also looking into offering counseling services for post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental health issue facing many of today’s veterans.(8)

Colleges and universities can also start incorporating staff development training that focuses on teaching and serving today’s veterans. I would like to share two examples with you that occurred where I work, Napa Valley College. The first example is faculty members Mary Shea, who lost her son in Iraq, and Jose Hurtado, who coordinated a Flex Day workshop called “Veterans Issues on Flex Day Spring 2008”. They had Bucky Peterson, head of the California Troops to College Working Group, speak on how to make Napa Valley College a welcoming place for veterans. It was the first time such a workshop had been offered in some time. The second example is a campus wide committee formed between Financial Aid Veterans Services, Admissions and Records and the Counseling Division called “Veterans Advisory Committee”. Both projects focused on coordinating efforts and bringing awareness to the changing needs of our returning veterans.

Conclusion

Colleges and universities are entering a unique time in history. Though the country is not experiencing a full draft or showing large support for the War on Terror, young adults are still stepping forward to serve. To some, the military might offer a chance to make a difference for their country or to have a larger purpose. For others it offers access to their local university. Whatever the reason was that sent them off, we in higher education should feel worthy of their return to our college campuses. I encourage you to find out more about your campus veteran services and make announcements in your class.

References

(1) Military.com June 22, 2006 “GI Bill Turns 62 Today.” Found on 12/28/2007.
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,102383,00.html

(2) Marklein, Mary B. “Complex GI Bill Makes for a Rocky Road from Combat to College.” USA Today, December 26, 2007. Found on 12/28/2007.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-12-26-gi-bill-main_N.htm

(3) Brier, J. “They Don't Always Fit the GI Bill.” USA Today, July 10, 2007. Found on 12/28/2007.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-07-10-gi-bill-report_N.htm

(4) See (2)

(5) See (2)

(6) Howes, C. “Making College Affordable for Veterans is Critical.” Community College Times, April 13, 2007. Found on 12/28/2007.
http://www.communitycollegetimes.com/article.cfm?TopicId=7&ArticleId=224

(7) See (6)

(8) See (3)

About the Author

Victoria Estrella Worch
Coordinator of Student Life
Napa Valley College, Napa, California

Victoria Estrella Worch is the Coordinator of Student Life at Napa Valley College and a candidate for M.Ed. in College Student Affairs at Azusa Pacific University (May 2008).

Victoria has been active in the field of Student Affairs since she was a freshman at Sonoma State University in 1995. Her first experience was volunteering for the Associated Student Productions. From there she learned how to plan leadership retreats, host concerts, and follow Roberts Rules of Order. Since 2001, she has held the position of Coordinator of Student Life at Napa Valley College. She is most proud of rebuilding the student activities program and reestablishing student government. She is an active member of the CA Community College Student Affairs Association, the Napa Valley College Outreach committee and the Classified Senate. Her favorite part about being a Student Affairs Professional is listening and giving advice to students. In her free time she enjoys hiking and watching NASCAR with her husband Matthias.