Pre-Admissions Advising

Employment

Scholarly Resources

Engagement, Collaboration and Impact

Programs and Services

Working with military-connected students extends beyond that of the role of the School Certifying Official (SCO) (also known as a VA Certifying Official (VACO) on some campuses) and benefits processing. For higher education professionals, the charge is often to find ways to engage students outside of the classroom in high impact, co-curricular experiences. Resources here have been gathered to cover a number of these categories of programs and services.

Pre-Admissions Advising

Navigating higher education can be a daunting prospect, especially for students who might be the first generation in their family to attend college. There are several resources available to provide guidance throughout this process. These resources will help students identify their best path forward when applying to schools. Veterans education benefits are a hard-earned precious resource, so it’s imperative that students make the most of them.

Veterans Education Success

Veterans Education Success is a nonprofit veterans organization focused on the success of student veterans in higher education. All support and guidance is provided to service members, veterans, and their families totally free. Veterans Education Success also facilitates interactions between student veterans and their elected officials to talk about what’s working and what needs fixing with the GI Bill. In addition to providing advice and counseling during the college search and selection process, Veterans Education Success is well-known for its direct support to student veterans who experience instances of college fraud, deception, or closures.

Service to School

Service to School (S2S) is a nonprofit that provides free college and grad school application guidance to military veterans and servicemembers. Its goal is to help veterans gain admission to the best college for them while empowering each veteran to make informed decisions about their education. S2S pairs veterans with mentors, called “Ambassadors,” for help applying to college or graduate school – including reviewing transcripts, editing and reviewing essays and personal statements, preparing for school interviews, helping with networking opportunities, direct connection with Admissions Officers, and more. Currently, S2S has more than 400 Ambassadors working with the next generation of student veteran applicants.

Warrior-Scholar Project

In partnership with the nation’s top colleges and universities, Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) is a nonprofit that hosts intensive and immersive one and two-week college-preparatory academic training for service members and veterans, offered in three disciplines: Humanities, STEM, and Business & Entrepreneurship. Through faculty lectures, workshops and research projects, tailored assignments, and one-on-one tutoring, warrior-scholars acquire the skills to succeed in higher education and navigate the cultural shift from military service to college. WSP also offers workshops tailored to address the unique needs of veterans enrolled in community colleges and targeted programming for marginalized veterans, such as its Women Veterans Empowerment Dialogues. All programming is provided at no cost.
Additional resources for counseling are available through VA, other Federal entities, and their partners, including:

Employment

The conversation at the national level surrounding student employment has centered on the need for institutions of higher learning to show employment outcomes after graduation. This has been even more magnified for military-connected beneficiaries as federal dollars have poured into a variety of programs from which institutions have benefited. Program suggestions centered on the topic have been assembled.

  • Suggestions and tips from Syracuse University Veteran Career Services on delivering career programming and resources to student veterans.
  • Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) — This video breaks down the path to employment.

Scholarly Resources

As practitioners, it’s important to stay up to date on scholarship in the field. Some of the works below are recent, some are foundational.

Engagement, Collaboration and Impact

To engage and empower student veterans, institutions of higher learning have to do much more than offer “veteran-friendly” rhetoric. It’s important to recognize that most student veterans prefer to be called “student veterans” rather than “veteran students.” Cultural competency in such nuances are crucial to your success in working with this community. Ultimately, departments and services at higher education institutions need to collaborate with each other and with student veterans organizations to develop quality support systems.

Supporting Veteran Success in Higher Education

Columbia University has produced an educational, class-based resource that provides higher education professionals with the tools necessary to better understand, encourage, and facilitate the success of the student veterans whom we serve.  The page uses an edX platform to deliver this crucial content.

High Impact Practices (HIPs)

Initiatives, programs and services should strive to deliver high impact, also known as High Impact Practices (HIP). Some helpful resources from the Centre for Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo and Illinois State University discuss characteristics of high impact practices for military-connected students and provide helpful program suggestions:

VetSuccess on Campus (VSOC)

VetSuccess on Campus (VSOC) is a VA program that supports veterans and service members who are transitioning from military to college life, as well as certain qualified dependents of veterans. VSOC counselors are placed by VA at 104 college campuses across the country. The VSOC program strengthens partnerships with institutions of higher learning and creates opportunities to collaborate with VA and its Veteran Readiness & Employment program (VR&E, formerly Vocational Rehabilitation) on recruitment, retention, and engagement.

Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE)

Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE) is a peer support program that connects incoming student veterans on college campuses with student veterans who are trained as Peer Advisors who can help them navigate college life, address challenges they may face, refer them to appropriate resources on and off campus, and provide ongoing support.

As professionals, we want to see our student veterans succeed and move on towards graduation. A key component of that is integrating them into campus life, connecting to services, and promoting a genuine sense of belonging. PAVE’s peer to peer mentorship program can help them help each other.