As tens of thousands of soldiers return from the War in Iraq, Ohio University is searching for ways to encourage some of these veterans to return to school.
In the past, OU had managed veterans’ affairs in a somewhat informal matter, with advisers, learning communities and involvement groups.
Veteran student enrollment at OU, based on students using Veterans Affairs benefits, is up almost 60 percent this fall from three years ago.
There are about 550 student veterans and military personal currently enrolled at OU’s main and regional campuses. This includes 270 veterans who reside on OU’s Athens campus, said Angela Lash, assistant director of the Allen Student Help Center.
Partially because of this swell in veteran enrollment, a new position, the Advisor for Special Populations with a Focus on Veterans, is being created to work with veteran students.
Within the next two weeks, interviews will be finalized and one of three candidates who are currently being considered will be hired as the new academic advisor, University College Dean David Descutner said.
The advertised salary for the position is estimated at $35,000-40,000.
The University College was able to hire a new academic advisor because of a donation from Ken Peak, a U.S. Navy and U.S. Navy Reserve veteran who studied physics at OU and graduated in 1967. Peak pledged to match any donation up to $65,000 for veterans’ services at OU. The university raised the full amount, bringing the total fund for veterans’ services to $130,000 after Peak’s donation.
The new academic adviser will focus on commuter and veteran students and is taking the place of another academic adviser, Greg Oberlin, who is retiring. The position of his replacement will hold has been redefined to emphasize veterans, as well as post-secondary and commuter students.
“Anytime a university grows significantly, the university has to meet the needs of the students,” Descutner said.
According to a Department of Education study, reported by The Nation in 2004, data from the past two decades have shown that less than 3 percent of veterans from a 4-year college with traditional programs.
Former Marine Devon Aey, a junior studying business, served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and said adjusting from a combat environment to a college one is very difficult. Aey serves as president of the Combat Veterans Club and the veterans’ representative on Student Senate.
Last year, GI Jobs magazine placed OU in the top 20 percent of veteran-friendly schools.
“We have a heck of a lot more that we have to do before we are satisfied,”
Descutner said. “We have made progress, but there is much more that needs to be done.”
The new adviser might integrate nationally recognized Supportive Education for Returning Veterans program into OU’s future work with veterans.
The SERV program works by placing recently returning veterans into the same classes for one semester in order to help soften the transition from military life to student life. It also helps veterans apply, enroll and collect benefits.
“I re-created a military environment for one semester, and it brought the camaraderie back,” SERV Founder John Schupp said.
The average veteran in non-SERV classes has approximately a 2.8 GPA, whereas veterans in SERV classes earn between a 3.5 and a 3.7 GPA, according to SERV data.
The data also shows an improved retention rate for soldiers who take SERV classes — about 11 percent higher than civilian rates.
However, SERV offers a different philosophical viewpoint than those held by OU and the University College, Descutner said.
He said he preferred the method of integrating students by major, such as in learning communities, rather than by military or other experience.
“Putting everyone together in a class when their interests are different, their experiences are different… that’s not typically how we have done things at OOU,” Descutner said.
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