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6 Statistics About Student Veterans That Will Surprise You
They’re even more successful than most realize — and face more unique challenges
Recently a Navy veteran called my office looking for help. She wasn’t suicidal or homeless or struggling to get a job. As the key point of contact for veteran and military-connected students at a large midwestern university, it’s my job to help student veterans enroll, engage and graduate successfully.
Her problem was financial: she had used almost all of her GI Bill, yet still had several semesters to go before graduation. She was an honor-roll English major who wanted to become a teacher and had attended college part-time for years so she could continue to care for her young daughter.
We discussed scholarships and loans and other ways for her to possibly pay for the rest of her degree, and I gave her some avenues to pursue and people to reach out to. I don’t know what she ultimately decided.
But this one student veteran serves as an excellent example of many of the stereotypes and wrong-headed ideas that non-military people often make about student veterans.
Students, faculty and the general public get student veterans wrong all the time. Here are some ways how.
