How Can We Better Serve Students Using GI Bill® Benefits at Arizona State University?

As the Director of the Pat Tillman Veterans Center at Arizona State University, I believe our team has some idea of what is needed to support our student veterans while they attend school here using GI Bill® benefits. After all, we’re primarily staffed by veterans, many of which attended school here at ASU. They’ve been there and done that, with a lot of experience to bring to our efforts aimed at creating a culture of success for students. Yet, even with a team of professionals dedicated to knowing VA related policies and processes, as well as having strong veteran oriented support structures, we still face challenges with retention. Specifically, first year student veteran retention rates here at ASU trail behind typical college age students by 8%. In addition, transfers coming in from community colleges and other universities also lag behind the general student population by 3 to 6%. This is often a surprise to faculty and staff across the university, as they have a built-in expectation that student veterans, with their experience and discipline gained through military service, are well situated to pursue their degree successfully all the way through to graduation. So, how can we outpace the retention curve?

To answer that question, we’ve asked our student veteran population for feedback. It is no surprise that financial shortfalls are number one, as many struggle making ends meet even with the GI Bill® benefits they receive, to include tuition, book fees and military housing allowance. While there are a variety of other forms of financial augmentation (e.g. scholarships, grants, and loans) in some cases, even that isn’t enough. Is there more we can do here, from a veterans center perspective, to help those who just can’t stretch the financial support far enough?

Another factor identified, especially for first year students, is the uncertainty brought on by the newness of the college experience. This is a recurring theme here at ASU because of the size of our institution, which covers four unique campuses and a number of extension sites. While there are a variety of veteran focused student clubs, orientation sessions, dedicated support staff, counseling services, activities, events and more, some student veterans still feel disconnected and floating on their own. No doubt, one aspect is the difference in age between the typical college student (18-22 years old) compared to our student veteran population which averages at over 30 years old. How can we better help them bridge the gap here, as they move into a new experience that offers a lot of unknowns.

While I wish I had all the support structures and resources under the Pat Tillman Veterans Center roof, the reality is we need to depend on a federated approach across the campuses and take advantage of everything that is in place for the general student population. In addition, we will continue to refine the specific services we offer within the center for our student veterans, tailored to meet their needs and circumstances as often as possible. While we have a lot of the bases covered, I’m still open to ideas on what more we can do to better serve our student veterans using the GI Bill® at ASU and help them find success while pursuing their degree and beyond.