Coming soon to a college near you: Vets centers
Published: July 2, 2010
A $6 million pilot program funding veterans centers on college campuses could be the first step in correcting dismal graduation rates among former servicemembers.
This week, the Department of Education announced a pilot program to fund 19 campus veterans centers, offering assistance with GI Bill payments, VA health services, and combat-to-college transitions. The pilot, approved by Congress last year, will fund the offices for at least three years.
The program is based off a model developed by AMVETS and Supportive Education for the Returning Veteran, already in place at Cleveland State University, Youngstown State University and University of Arizona.
Ray Kelley, national legislative director of AMVETS, said the idea is to find ways to make the college experience easier for veterans.
“We’ll spend $62 billion [over the next 10 years] to send veterans to college with the GI Bill,” he said. “We need to spend more to keep them in there.”
Historically, more than 70 percent of veterans use at least part of their GI Bill benefits, but fewer than 3 percent of those who enroll in a four-year degree program receive a diploma within five years of starting classes, Kelley said. Among non-veterans that five-year rate sits near 40 percent.
Earlier this year, in a speech to the American Council on Education, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said echoed those graduation concerns: “Unless they graduate from their programs, there will be no payoff, for them or for the country.”
Colleges will have until the end of July to submit proposals for the pilot. Kelley said all 19 veterans centers should be operational by the fall 2011 semester.
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