That focus might only intensify now that the Iraq war has ended and the war in Afghanistan is winding down, with new veterans seeking education.
Specialized courses enable brick-and-mortar institutions to maintain a toehold in the veterans’ education market at a time of increased competition, including from for-profit career colleges and technical programs that critics say use deceptive marketing to target military families.
“Just like the rest of the country, people in the academy over the decade-long conflicts have come to recognize that we have this tremendously small number of people who are bearing this burden for society,” said Derek Malone-France, executive director of GW’s Writing Program. “There’s this real opportunity to collaborate between the academy and military, which is historically a very fraught divide.”
“They’re back now, and they need it,” Malone-France said. “They need to feel that they have a mission. Collectively, they are saying among themselves, ‘What we can we do? How can we mobilize?’”
The courses acknowledge veterans’ unique academic and social needs: Incoming freshmen who have seen combat might be less keen on dormitory scavenger hunts than the average 18-year-old undergraduate, but having been away from class for longer, they’re also more likely to benefit from advice on balancing their coursework with professional, family, and financial responsibilities and adjusting from the regimented military to the freedoms of college life.
“Having faced some life-threatening situations in the military, I was actually more fearful of the choices that I had when I entered college. I didn’t have someone basically saying, ‘Here is your exact daily schedule’ or ‘Here is your objective,'” said Michael Samano, a Navy veteran who has taught veteran-centered courses at Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore.
West Virginia University, which has about 900 students using VA benefits, offers veterans courses in history, public speaking, and on transitioning from military to student life. Cleveland State University offers a veterans-only section of Introduction to University Life, a required freshman class. Collin College in Texas has provided various veteran-friendly classes, including a history class that teaches students how to do an oral history project and that is open to general-education students, too.
A University of Iowa class, limited to veterans and service members who have previously deployed, requires students to interview service members from a different era and covers everything from college study skills and reading comprehension to drug addiction and healthy sleep habits.
“You have the ability to speak your mind about things that normal people aren’t really going to understand. They may see a movie or something, but there’s no substitute for being there,” said Gene Rovang, a 46-year-old veteran enrolled in the Iowa class. “As a veteran, when you talk about your experiences, it’s just very easy to communicate to a roomful of veterans compared to a roomful of civilians. Most people don’t have a job where your job is to kill people.”
At Wright State University in Ohio, a psychology class frames discussions of behavior and leadership around the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and Guantanamo Bay, said Larry James, a retired Army colonel who teaches it.
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