Posted on Apr 28, 2021
How Can We Better Serve Students Using GI Bill® Benefits at Arizona State University?
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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.
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.
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 6
First I want to say Pat Tillman was an incredible person first. Obviously he was gifted athletically, but not many know he was a scholar who had a strong set of values. He was a remarkable man.
I am curious what kind of questions are on your survey for veterans? What do they have to accomplish to go to college?
- Work?
- Take care of family?
- Attend classses and study.
- Have an academic objective.
- Pay bills.
- Invest in academics for a few years.
- Essentially key tasks that must be accomplished to attend college.
I would be curious the % and numbers of veterans going into community colleges, trade schools, and 4 year institutions. Could it be a good chunk of veterans decide that attending college does not suit them? Not everyone is cut out for college for various reasons. I would like to see the % comparison of veterans choosing 4 year institutions to the general public. Trade schools and community colleges can also compete for veterans to attend. I would love to see those metrics to include a survey on what what it entails to go to college.
Perhaps you office can provide academic and life mentoring to the veterans. Perhaps you folks can think of the problem in an OPORD format. Paint the picture. List the key tasks. Who provides service and support.
I am going to make the strong assumption that some of the veterans are worn out mentally and emotionally. Maybe that is an area you folks can delve into.
Does their ideology or ideas about 4 year colleges support the cause. The cause is to go to 4 year colleges. Is there a breakdown in that process?
I am curious what kind of questions are on your survey for veterans? What do they have to accomplish to go to college?
- Work?
- Take care of family?
- Attend classses and study.
- Have an academic objective.
- Pay bills.
- Invest in academics for a few years.
- Essentially key tasks that must be accomplished to attend college.
I would be curious the % and numbers of veterans going into community colleges, trade schools, and 4 year institutions. Could it be a good chunk of veterans decide that attending college does not suit them? Not everyone is cut out for college for various reasons. I would like to see the % comparison of veterans choosing 4 year institutions to the general public. Trade schools and community colleges can also compete for veterans to attend. I would love to see those metrics to include a survey on what what it entails to go to college.
Perhaps you office can provide academic and life mentoring to the veterans. Perhaps you folks can think of the problem in an OPORD format. Paint the picture. List the key tasks. Who provides service and support.
I am going to make the strong assumption that some of the veterans are worn out mentally and emotionally. Maybe that is an area you folks can delve into.
Does their ideology or ideas about 4 year colleges support the cause. The cause is to go to 4 year colleges. Is there a breakdown in that process?
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Col Jeff Guimarin
Thanks, Ken. All good questions and thoughts. Our surveys in the past have been more oriented on how they adapt to college life. I'd like to tailor them more to get insight on what factors are impacting it, which might help us trend more of the major external factors veterans face versus the typical ones other college students deal with. And I definitely agree that 4-year college experiences are not for everyone. Going to community college first is a sensible approach to test the waters. And I'm all for more utilization of trade schools...the VA has a great program to support that. Cheers.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
I essentially used the Ends, Ways, Means test.
End: 4 year degree
Ways: Go to college
Means: What kind of resources are needed, commitment, actions, and what are the challenges.
It might seem silly but maybe looking at the situation from an OPORD perspective might help:
- The big picture.
- Mission.
- Execution (Key tasks)
- Service and support.
- Command and signal.
Perhaps we can use the paradigm for insurgencies:
- What is their IDEOLOGY about college and life.
- Will the ideology support the CAUSE to attend college.
- There must be a cause to support ACTION.
Perhaps you can provide more mentorship. My mentor growing up in the army was an Armor Brigade COL who should have gotten a star. He motivated me. He was a deep thinker and fighter for me. He was able to paint the picture of the future for me. COL Gold also picked me up, duste me off, and pushed me on the path again.
I must admit I am stuck being a military thinker.
End: 4 year degree
Ways: Go to college
Means: What kind of resources are needed, commitment, actions, and what are the challenges.
It might seem silly but maybe looking at the situation from an OPORD perspective might help:
- The big picture.
- Mission.
- Execution (Key tasks)
- Service and support.
- Command and signal.
Perhaps we can use the paradigm for insurgencies:
- What is their IDEOLOGY about college and life.
- Will the ideology support the CAUSE to attend college.
- There must be a cause to support ACTION.
Perhaps you can provide more mentorship. My mentor growing up in the army was an Armor Brigade COL who should have gotten a star. He motivated me. He was a deep thinker and fighter for me. He was able to paint the picture of the future for me. COL Gold also picked me up, duste me off, and pushed me on the path again.
I must admit I am stuck being a military thinker.
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I’ve visited ASU and appreciate how the late Pat Tillman’s legacy continues. I have some suggestions that I will email you privately about. Best wishes in helping student veterans...
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I didn't use GI Bill, but I used Tuition Assistance and first thing is that TA barely made a dent in the cost of my Master's degree at ASU. It covered MAYBE 25% of the total. There are other Master's programs around the country that are 100% covered by TA - AMU and Post Universities for example. I'm not saying to make it completely covered, but the difference was insane and almost every single course had some hidden fee like "technology fee" (its the 21st century and we have "technology fees? come on!) or "administration fee", it reminded me very much of why I left Verizon. I even had to pay for a student ID card that I never used because I wasn't at campus and using distance learning. I had to take out just shy of $20k in loans for my degree.
Second, ASU didn't have the agreement with GoArmyEd so instead of being able to register for classes normally, I had to put together the cost estimate forms for every single class and send them up to be approved by my local Education Center. This was extremely difficult and caused delays in being able to register for classes, reordering when I would take certain courses, and outright changing which courses I would take because the time would force me to wait, and courses would fill up. My Bachelor's at Western Carolina had the agreement so I could just register for courses through GoArmyEd, quick and simple.
As for support through the coursework, it was fantastic. I had a surprise deployment and my professors were more than helpful in working with the schedule and allowing me to finish my work either ahead of time or with an extension. Aside from that one public finance course (ugh never again!) every class was enjoyable and interesting (even statistics...somehow)!
Second, ASU didn't have the agreement with GoArmyEd so instead of being able to register for classes normally, I had to put together the cost estimate forms for every single class and send them up to be approved by my local Education Center. This was extremely difficult and caused delays in being able to register for classes, reordering when I would take certain courses, and outright changing which courses I would take because the time would force me to wait, and courses would fill up. My Bachelor's at Western Carolina had the agreement so I could just register for courses through GoArmyEd, quick and simple.
As for support through the coursework, it was fantastic. I had a surprise deployment and my professors were more than helpful in working with the schedule and allowing me to finish my work either ahead of time or with an extension. Aside from that one public finance course (ugh never again!) every class was enjoyable and interesting (even statistics...somehow)!
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Col Jeff Guimarin
Thanks for the feedback Jeff. I forwarded this to counterparts in ASU EdPlus, who run the online program. The tuition cost is a factor I've heard come up before because of the delta between TA and ASU's rate. Undergrad programs through online get a scholarship for that. But, as you know, it doesn't exist for graduate level. Something I think the university should look at. Cheers.
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