Student veterans often feel isolated on university campuses. They are typically older than most of their fellow students, and many find they have little in common with the average university student, who has never experienced anything remotely like combat – or discipline for that matter.
For many veterans, the result is isolation, where they tend to go to class, then leave the campus for jobs or family without engaging in university life. Some even use the pretext of the age difference between themselves and their fellow students as an excuse not to enroll. Few veterans feel well integrated into campus life, at times seeing the concerns and activities of their fellow students as trivial.
Enduring post-traumatic stress and multiple deployments may further weaken the veteran’s commitment to graduating. Studies show that social relationships on campus can go a long way toward countering these negative factors, and may impact whether a veteran stays in school or not. Campus support is key to encouraging veterans to stay enrolled, not only providing them with a path to a career, but also helping them reintegrate into civilian life.
In recent years, colleges nationwide have made a greater effort to welcome combat veterans, by providing help through a university department of veterans’ affairs for practical matters such as accessing veterans’ benefits, receiving counseling for career paths, or directing veterans to organizations such as Student Veterans of America. Veterans may also find their college has advisers for obtaining student housing, campus work study jobs and other benefits. That’s certainly the case at Ohio University, an institution that consistently has been rated among the most military-friendly campuses in the country, having been honored as a “military-friendly” campus for nine straight years.
Ranking 285th overall in rankings for the Best Colleges For Veterans, Ohio University’s main campus, according to the OU website, “is a good choice if you are interested in a quality education coupled with factors we think are important to veterans.”
According to the federal Veterans Administration, there are 780 G.I. Bill students at OU, as of the fall of 2020. However, that number does not include active-duty military personnel who are attending with tuition assistance, so the total military population is likely a good deal larger than 780.
For more information on attending Ohio University as a veteran, go to the Veterans and Military Student Services Center at OU.