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Inspiring MindsThe Support Military and Veteran Students Really Need from Higher
Ed Institutions

STUDENT SUPPORT


THE SUPPORT MILITARY AND VETERAN STUDENTS REALLY NEED FROM HIGHER ED
INSTITUTIONS

featuring Minsoo Jung, Patricia N. Crawford, David Keefe, Brad Carney, and
LeNaya Hezel
November 2, 2023

Paul Taylor / Getty Images


EXPLORE MORE

 * Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
 * Student Support

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Veteran and active-duty military students are present in most higher education
classrooms around the globe, whether educators are aware of it or not. Yet many
institutions lack the resources, funding, and knowledge necessary to make these
students feel welcome and supported.

The unique experiences of veteran and active-duty students mean they often have
the skills, drive, and perspective to make them assets to any classroom setting,
but to cultivate these students’ full potential, educators and administrators
need to support them as they transition from military to academic life.

To understand their needs and shed light on how higher education institutions
can better serve them, we spoke with several military-connected students (a term
that includes not only active military, reserves, and veterans, but also the
children, spouses, partners, and families of service members), as well as
educators experienced in working with them. These conversations offer advice to
administrators and educators for better supporting these students.


UNDERSTANDING THE MILITARY-TO-ACADEMIA CULTURE SHOCK

Transitioning from the military to academia can feel like stepping into an
entirely different world. The military is a well-ordered setting in which most
decisions about day-to-day life are already made. By contrast, academia allows
students a lot of freedom—so much that it can feel overwhelming to those not
accustomed to it.

“Military life requires strict adherence to the chain of command and regimented
daily routines,” explains Minsoo Jung, an undergraduate business student at the
University of Texas Austin who is currently completing his mandatory military
service to his home country of South Korea. “This is unlike the academic world,
where I could take personal responsibility for skipping a class; such autonomy
doesn’t apply in the military.”

Patricia N. Crawford, a captain in the US Air Force Reserve and a business
administration PhD student at the University of Rhode Island, agrees. “Academia
is more about free thought and debate,” she says.

> “Transitioning from the military to academia can feel like stepping into an
> entirely different world.”

What’s more, veteran and active-duty students are generally older than
traditional four-year degree students, making this transition even more
challenging. They often have other responsibilities, such as families or
existing jobs, but current service members have to continue prioritizing their
duty. “It’s hard to balance—and that’s even more of a reason why we need
support,” Crawford says.

Without support, this transition can create a feeling of isolation, explains
David Keefe, veteran and director of military and veteran engagement at the
Columbia Center for Veteran Transition and Integration. “They feel that they’re
not part of the larger community, but then they’re stuck in this mindset that
they have to suck it up and white-knuckle it through,” Keefe says. “That is
extremely challenging for veterans. And it is on the institutions to change and
create spaces for student veterans,” whether that means staffing a military
resource center or providing purpose-made documentation that tells veterans what
to expect from their higher education experience.

Here are some additional institution-wide initiatives that academic leaders can
extend to support students through this transition.

OFFER MORE RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO CONNECT

On top of dealing with culture shock, many veteran and active-duty students
struggle with not being able to find resources that could help them make the
most of their time in school. Brad Carney, an army veteran who earned his
bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and is now attending Harvard Law
School, explains, “In retrospect, I don’t know if I had a full understanding of
why I was going to college. I didn’t realize the opportunities that were
available to me.”



EXAMPLES OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY MILITARY RESOURCE CENTERS

While the specific resources and services offered by a military resource center
will vary from one institution to another, here are some common services that
may be available to veteran and military-connected students:

 * Academic support

 * Assistance applying for benefits and financial aid

 * Counseling and mental health services

 * Events and activities calendars

 * Housing and career planning

 * Peer support

 * Scholarship information

 * Transition support





Keefe has seen this trend in his own work. “There’s very little information for
those just about to get out of the military on how to transition into academia.
It can be extremely stressful for veterans to try to find that right-fit
college,” Keefe said. Part of his work at Columbia involves developing courses,
available as massive open online courses (MOOCs), that fill this knowledge gap
for veterans planning to enter higher education in the future.

Once on campus, veterans should have a place they can go, such as a military
resource center, where they can ask questions and find support. Crawford
remembers how instrumental the former director of her institution’s military and
veterans center was in helping her navigate academia and ensure she had housing.

Military-connected students similarly benefit from being able to connect with
and support each other through student groups, campus events, and other
community-building initiatives. For example, Keefe has witnessed a lot of
success from a mentorship program implemented at Columbia. “Those mentor-mentee
relationships were the peer support that they needed, where they could reach out
to somebody who had been through that transition already,” he said.

DEVELOP TAILORED PROGRAMMING

Including military-connected students in programming for other underserved
identity groups celebrates veterans’ intersectionality and ensures they “are
celebrated and recognized in larger campus events,” says LeNaya Hezel, chief
programs officer at the Warrior-Scholar Project, an organization dedicated to
helping veterans transition into higher education. This might include allowing
veterans’ groups to have a presence at events supporting women, people of color,
or first-generation students.

Schools can also facilitate “faculty seminars that can provide some form of
cultural competency” by teaching educators about the nuances of the military and
veteran experience, she adds. At Columbia, Keefe is developing a cultural
competency course to help educators better understand the veteran population.
This course is currently being tested before becoming available as a MOOC.

Before developing any kind of programming, Hezel recommends schools collect data
on the number of military-connected students enrolled by asking them to
self-identify through intake paperwork or surveys. Often, universities only
capture data on student veterans using GI Bill benefits, but there are also
veterans and military-connected students who are not using those benefits, she
explains. Providing opportunities for these students to self-identify “is
pivotal because then you can start identifying trends among the population. That
way, you can start engaging with your population and providing services and
resources based on the student veteran demographics that are enrolled at your
school.”


HELPING MILITARY-CONNECTED STUDENTS FEEL WELCOME

Small efforts from their teachers can signal to veteran and active-duty students
that they’re safe in their classrooms. For example, Carney urges educators to
gain some basic understanding of how the military works, because doing so “shows
that you have some minimum amount of care, which will take you 80 percent of the
way . . . [to] unlocking students’ potential.”

Hezel advises educators to start by thinking about how they support other
underrepresented groups and taking similar approaches with their
military-connected students. “Yes, student veterans have unique needs. But in a
lot of cases, what student veterans need in terms of having a sense of belonging
is no different from a lot of other student identities on campus,” Hezel says.
To that end, educators should consider taking the initiative to do things like
attend veterans’ events or take competency courses about the military.

Here are a few additional ways educators can help these students feel more
welcome in class.

CHECK BIASES AND APPROACH STUDENTS WITH CARE AND OPEN COMMUNICATION

The best way to learn how to help military-connected students and what they need
to be successful is to ask them, says Crawford.

Open communication is necessary for getting to know your veteran students and
understanding their experiences. “It’s really important to just get to know the
veteran as a person, just like you would with any other student in the
classroom,” says Hezel. “Get to know them for who they are. They’ll be more
likely to open up and share their experiences, and you’ll find the commonalities
to be able to support them on their journey.”

To make these connections, educators need to examine their biases about
veterans, Keefe says. “We’re so wrapped up in either the ‘broken’ veteran or the
‘heroic’ veteran or what a ‘good’ veteran is versus a ‘bad’ veteran. In society,
we craft these binary narratives. It’s not binary. It’s ambiguous. Anyone can be
a veteran.”

At the most basic level, supporting veteran and other military-connected
students means being respectful and compassionate. This is foundational to
building classrooms and institutions that are welcoming to them.

BE FLEXIBLE WHEN IT COMES TO COURSEWORK

Veterans and active service members are often navigating competing priorities
(e.g., families, jobs, duty, etc.), while also relearning how to be students
after years away from their studies. As they navigate these unique challenges,
it’s important for their teachers to have “flexibility and open understanding,”
says Jung.

Giving military-connected students some leeway can go a long way toward helping
them reach their full potential. This can take the form of one-off actions like
deadline extensions, or it can mean incorporating more asynchronous online
content into your course so students can better balance coursework with their
other responsibilities, suggests Crawford.

AVOID SINGLING THEM OUT

Take care to show interest in veterans’ experiences without singling them out in
class with questions or statements that could make them uncomfortable. While
veterans and service members should feel free to bring up their military
experience, many don’t want to feel pigeonholed.

“At least in class, I’m not any different,” says Carney. “Nor do I necessarily
know the geopolitical implications of something happening in the South China
Sea, for example, just because I was a veteran. But also, please don’t treat me
as though I’m the same as the 19-year-old [students]. Just having some respect
for where people are coming from helps.”

> “Show interest in veterans’ experiences without singling them out in class
> with questions or statements that could make them uncomfortable.”

As Keefe explains, “It’s OK to engage veterans and specifically ask them about
particular aspects of their service—but the caveat is, do it at the right time.
We have to create a sense of awareness that not every time is a good time to ask
certain questions or to highlight that veterans are in the room. That creates a
lot of pressure for many veterans.”

Hezel adds, “Just because someone served in the military doesn’t mean they have
a particular political identity. Veterans are diverse. Not only in their
experiences, but in why they joined the military, and in the intersections of
identity that they’re bringing.”

When treated with respect and allowed to share their experiences on their own
terms, veterans bring real-world experience and rich perspectives to the
classroom that may be more mature or nuanced than many other students, Crawford
adds. Educators should make a point to “recognize the skills that military
students bring to the table,” she says.


CULTIVATING A RICH CAMPUS COMMUNITY FOR ALL STUDENTS

Educators and their institutions have a duty to recognize and support their
military-connected students as they build their futures. Doing so with an honest
commitment will ensure campuses are respectful environments that benefit these
students and the broader community alike.

“I think the more we understand who veterans are and where they came from, the
more we start to understand the military better,” says Keefe. “We start to
understand who our neighbors are, we start to understand a part of our society.
And that change really can start in higher education.”


EXPLORE MORE

 * Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
 * Student Support

Minsoo Jung is an undergraduate business student at the University of Texas
Austin. After completing his first year of school, Jung enlisted in the Republic
of Korea Army as a KATUSA (Korean Augmentation to the US Army). Currently he is
serving as the Publications and Records Management Specialist (42A) within the
Eighth US Army, managing the distribution of the Army Publishing Directorate
forms and providing translation services for military documents.

Patricia N. Crawford is a captain in the US Air Force Reserve and serving under
the Operations Group as an officer in charge of Mission Management. She is also
a business administration PhD student at the University of Rhode Island,
specializing in finance. Her research spans entrepreneurial finance, real
estate, healthcare disparities, and financial education. She serves as the
president of the Graduate Student Association at the University of Rhode Island
and the Finance and Economics Doctoral Student Association for the PhD Project.


David Keefe is currently the director of Military and Veteran Community
Engagement at the Center for Veteran Transition and Integration at Columbia
University where he innovates capacity building initiatives for
military-connected communities within higher education. Prior to this, Keefe was
the senior assistant dean of Student Veteran Initiatives at Columbia’s School of
General Studies. Keefe served in the United States Marine Corps infantry as a
light armored reconnaissance scout, and completed a tour of duty on the
Euphrates River in Iraq as a riverine scout.

Brad Carney is a third-year law student (3L) at Harvard Law School. He holds a
bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Dartmouth College and served as an Army
Ranger in the US Army.

LeNaya Hezel serves as the Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP)’s Chief Programs
Officer, collaborating with WSP team members and partners to cultivate
inclusive, educational experiences that are accessible to any enlisted veteran
pursuing higher education and beyond. She is a PhD candidate in public sociology
at George Mason University where her dissertation research focuses on
military-connected students. Her most prized accomplishments include being a
military spouse to a US Navy officer and mother to three spirited children.

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