Veterans Day is both a time to honor and thank those who served in the military and an opportunity to reflect on ways in which the education and workforce ecosystem can better serve this important population.
Guild is proud to partner with many institutions that make veteran learners a priority. We asked Oregon State University (OSU) — a Guild partner and one of the top-rated online universities for veterans in the nation — to share insights into understanding and meeting the needs of learners who have served.
We spoke with Jessica DuPont, Associate Vice Provost at OSU’s Division of Educational Ventures, and Willie Elfering, Director of the Holcomb Center for Military and Veteran Resources, about some of the ways the university is helping veterans navigate their benefits, enjoy a successful student experience, and access community and belonging.
Here’s what they highlighted:
Recognize the value veterans bring.
They’ve had a life. They come with experience. They come with different tools. Their skillset helps them recognize when opinions are taught instead of when facts are taught, and they’ll challenge that.
Veterans bring unique value to the classroom as well as the workplace. Although at times their needs will differ from non-veteran students, it's essential not to fix an institutional mindset in deficit-based thinking.
“They’ve had a life. They come with experience. They come with different tools,” Elfering noted, pointing out that veterans’ lived experience can differentiate how they approach learning and enrich discourse in school and at work. “Their skillset helps them recognize when opinions are taught instead of when facts are taught, and they’ll challenge that.”
Additionally, student veterans often bring well-developed leadership and team-oriented durable skills with them. Finding ways to highlight how their experiences in the military can help them succeed through making connections between their skillsets and prospective career paths is critical.
Provide robust support to help students navigate systems and their learner experience.
As learners, working veterans face similar challenges as their peers. They have to balance work and education, as older students they often have family and personal obligations, and many are parents or have other caregiving responsibilities. They therefore need access to the same support and resources that benefit students who learn on campus. “We have a care team approach at OSU to ensure that online military students feel supported,” DuPont said. “They need to have the option to connect and access resources in a virtual environment.” OSU Ecampus provides coaching for bachelor’s students studying online to help ensure student success through addressing many top-of-mind concerns that working adults face, such as time management, work-life balance, online learning support, and navigating resources.
There are unique considerations for student veterans as well. Veteran benefits can be challenging to navigate. VA education assistance, including transfer credits, application fee deferral, and financial aid for veterans and actively serving students are hallmarks of an institutional commitment to helping veterans achieve their educational goals. OSU’s Ecampus honors military education benefits to ensure that working student veterans have equitable opportunity to access learning online.
Part of the responsibility that universities committed to serving veterans will take on is advocating for them. DuPont shared that allowances provided under the GI Bill — in particular housing allowances — are not allocated in the same way for online students as they are for on-campus students, leading on-campus learners to receive hundreds of dollars more per month for housing costs than their online counterparts.
As many online students are self-supporting working adults who need the flexibility that comes with online or asynchronous learning, some online learners may have markedly greater financial need than students who can attend class on campus. OSU has been vocal about the need to rectify this disparity, and DuPont laid out a few approaches universities can take to help make college more affordable for online veteran and military learners, including reducing barriers, increasing scholarships and grants for military-connected students, and partnering with colleges to match funds to award scholarships to online students.
Build community.
OSU’s military-connected community consists of more than 2,000 students (including veterans, students who are actively serving, and family members). Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE), a model developed at the University of Michigan, provides outreach, a website full of resources, and peer support for veteran students pursuing a college education via the Post 9-11 GI Bill. OSU is one of dozens of partner campuses that participate in the PAVE initiative, and the university is working to extend its PAVE outreach to Ecampus students as well. Veteran students are automatically enrolled (and can opt out), and first-term students are contacted on a regular basis by a peer who will check in, help ensure they are aware of their benefits, answer questions, and foster connection.
There are many ways institutions can help veterans gain the skills they need to succeed in their civilian careers. Holistically examining the wraparound supports available to veterans throughout their student journey, from navigating the application process through outcomes post-graduation, institutions can begin to uncover areas where additional support will have the greatest impact.
Visit OSU’s Ecampus to learn more about the services the university provides to student veterans.