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By the Numbers: From Soldier to Student: Military Personnel and Postsecondary Education

Since September 11, 2001, nearly two-thirds of colleges and universities have increased their emphasis on serving military undergraduates. Despite this heightened attention, however, military undergraduates are finding the transition from military life to student life difficult, particularly in areas such as managing time constraints and overcoming bureaucratic obstacles.

Two new reports provide a snapshot of who military students are and the programs and services offered by postsecondary institutions to ease their transitions to college. The first report, written by MPR Associates, Inc. for the American Council on Education (ACE) and titled Military Service Members and Veterans in Higher Education: What the New GI Bill May Mean for Postsecondary Institutions, provides an overview of the demographic characteristics of military students. The second report, From Soldier to Student: Easing the Transition of Service Members on Campus, produced by ACE and several partner associations, examines the types of programs and services that postsecondary institutions offer to assist military students in their academic pursuits.

The impetus for these reports is the Post-9/11 Veterans Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill or the new GI Bill), which offers increased support for educational expenses to the 2 million service members who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and is expected to prompt a significant upturn in the number of veterans and military personnel enrolling in higher education. In 2007–08, military students made up 4 percent of all undergraduates.

Additional highlights from Military Service Members and Veterans in Higher Education include:

• Location was an important factor to three-quarters of military undergraduates in choosing a postsecondary institution in 2003–04. Approximately half reported that program/coursework or costs were important.
• Similar percentages of military undergraduates pursued associate (47 percent) and bachelor's (42 percent) degrees in 2007–08.
• Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of military undergraduates attended full time for the full year, while 37 percent attended part time for part of the year in 2007–08.

From Soldier to Student includes these findings:

• Sixty-five percent of colleges and universities that offer services to veterans and military personnel have increased their emphasis on these services since September 11, 2001.
• Nearly 80 percent of all colleges have an established policy regarding tuition refunds for military activations and deployments.
• Almost three-fourths of all reporting colleges and universities with programs and services for veterans and military personnel award credit for military training and occupational experience. . . .

Excerpted from the fall 2009 issue of The Presidency. To subscribe to the magazine, please call (301) 632-6757, or order online through ACE's bookstore.