Severely Injured Military Veterans: Fulfilling Their Dreams

When veterans with severe injuries return to civilian life, they face
difficult transitions and often lose the convenience of direct access to
the government's educational support programs.
Severely Injured Military Veterans: Fulfilling Their Dreams
provides direct support to these veterans and their families by helping
them align their career goals with educational opportunity.
Academic Advising
The program begins while the service member is recovering at one
of four military hospitals: Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda,
MD; Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC; Brooke Army Hospital in
San Antonio, TX; and Naval Medical Center San Diego (nicknamed Balboa)
in San Diego, CA.
At the hospitals, service members are introduced to academic advisors
and develop customized educational plans. A veteran in the program may
elect to pursue high school equivalency and certificate programs,
two-year degrees, baccalaureate and graduate degrees, or post-graduate
study. Participants include first-time students, first-generation
students, and returning students.
Advisers work with veterans to identify educational resources and
programs that will help them achieve their goals, suggest strategies to
help them be successful students, and show them how to avoid possible
pitfalls, such as diploma and accreditation mills.
Campus Advocacy
The combination of individualized advising and campus advocacy has
proven to be extraordinarily effective in providing assistance to
severely injured veterans and their family members to assure that our
nation’s heroes can fulfill their dream of going to
college. Each participant is matched with a volunteer from the
college or university where the member plans to attend. This campus
advocate provides sources of information, encouragement and advocacy in
areas ranging from academics to campus culture. Volunteers include
students, faculty or administrators who are veterans themselves, while
others are family members of veterans or those who are interested in
serving those who serve. Working in partnership with other
organizations, the project fills the void that occurs when the service
member is released from active duty and begins the transition from the
battlefield to the classroom.
From Battlefield to Classroom and Beyond
Formally launched on April 2, 2007, the program has helped more than
450 military personnel severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan and
their families transition to college and civilian life.
The program is intended to ensure that our nation’s heroes
receive the full support of the higher education community as they find
a path to pursue their own hopes and dreams.
Severely Injured Military Veterans: Fulfilling Their Dreams
is funded with private
donations.
Please direct questions about this page to:
siproject@ace.nche.edu
This page last updated on 03/23/2009
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