Understanding Transition Experiences Of Combat Veterans Attending Community College

Since the creation of the first GI Bill program at the end of World War II, military veterans have had a profound effect on higher education in the United States. Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning from a different type of conflict, one with no easily discernible enemy, and where the front line is everywhere. While some research has been done discussing what services colleges and universities should offer returning veterans, little research has been conducted on understanding the actual experiences of veterans making the transition from servicemember to college student. Furthermore, the majority of research has been conducted at the university level, with minimum analysis performed at the level where the vast majority of returning veterans attend school: the community college. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the experiences of combat veterans making the transition from active military service to enrollment in a community college. Utilizing in-depth, personal interviews as the primary method of data collection, it was the goal of this analysis to add to the growing body of literature regarding this important student demographic.

"Mike Cubbage, a former Army combat veteran, draws upon his personal experiences in re-entering civilian life as well as his work advocating for veterans in this guide to navigating the transition to civilian life. While he shares tips in many areas, he focuses on education. Learn how to: find a school that will provide you with valuable support and skills; take advantage of military benefits that help day for education; cope with the stress that goes along with transitioning to civilian life; and apply skills you learned in the military to succeed as a student. You'll also get tips on preparing for job interviews, writing a resume that stands out, and making a good first impression with potential employers."--Page 4 of cover.

With the Post-9/11 GI Bill available to them, thousands of women-veterans are enrolling in community colleges to obtain an education and fine-tune job skills needed for success after their active duty military service. This qualitative study investigated the transition experiences of 19 women student-veterans who enrolled in the community college after completing their military active duty service. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants attending two suburban Southern California community colleges. Using a constructivist, grounded theory methodology, a model was created consisting of four related themes showing how women veterans are managing their transition to community college students. The themes include: (a) finding her way; (b) a gendered military experience; (c) preparing for change; and (d) relying on support. The data showed that women student-veterans are focused and more mature because of their gendered military experience. They have difficulty fitting in with the student population, including with their male student-veteran peers, preferring to selectively and discriminately identify as veterans. Very self-sufficient and staunchly independent, women student-veterans sought academic and program help exclusively from college faculty and staff. The findings of this study can inform the support efforts of community college faculty, staff, and administrators. Recommendations are offered including: establishing a college orientation for new faculty and staff; providing sensitivity training for faculty, staff, administrators, and students; developing women student-veteran workshops; and implementing a community partners engagement program in support of women veterans. Additionally, recommendations for future research on women student-veterans are proposed.

Parents of returning service members may sometimes feel that their voices are not heard. The media is saturated with stories about troops returning from deployment with mental health problems like post-traumatic stress, depression, and substance abuse. Some also return home with physical problems including traumatic brain injury, physical pain or more severe injuries like amputations. Almost all returning service members experience reintegration challenges such as readjusting to family and community, finding employment or attending school. But rarely do we hear how parents are taking on the role of supporting their sons and daughters who have served our country. In countless ways these parents provide help—and when their military child suffers significant physical or psychological injuries, they may once again become their primary caretaker. For mothers and fathers and others in a parenting role, it can be overwhelming at times, and resources are limited. Courage after Fire for Parents of Service Members provides a compassionate and accessible guide for the parents or guardians of returning troops. This groundbreaking book acknowledges the significant contribution and sacrifice parents have made for their military children, provides strategies and resources that will assist them in understanding and supporting their son or daughter, and will validate their own personal experiences. Recommendations for helping them care for their returning service member are woven throughout the book, as well as education about the importance of taking care of themselves to help prevent caregiver burnout. Vignettes and reflections from parents who have had a child deploy offer a sense of hope and community. Even in the best of circumstances, parents play an instrumental role in helping their sons and daughters successfully reintegrate after deployment. This book is a valuable resource for any parent who is seeking to better understand and support a returning military child while caring for themselves.

This book is intended for everyone in higher education – whether in the classroom, student affairs, administration, admissions, health services or faculty development – who is, or expects to be teaching, advising, or serving student veterans. This book is the outcome of a partnership between the Center for Teaching and Learning and the office of Disabilities Services at the University of South Dakota that led to the development of the Fides program whose goal was to establish high-quality, evidence-based development opportunities specifically designed to enable key university constituencies—the faculty, staff, and administration—to understand their role in providing extraordinary learning experiences for veterans. The program was funded through a congressionally directed FIPSE grant. Materials from Fides have been featured by prominent educational organizations, and are being used by the National Center for PTSD, colleges, universities, and boards of regents across the US.This book provides the background and guidelines you need to leverage the strengths that student veterans bring to your institution, to ease the challenges they face in transitioning into higher education, to facilitate their learning, and to ensure their successful graduation.Student veterans bring many strengths to your campus – maturity, significant life experiences, and cross-cultural awareness. They are highly motivated to serve others and value education. Student veterans may however face significant challenges. Student veterans have typically been out of high school for some time, where they may have earned average grades. Many are married with children and more than a few are single parents. They are approximately 20% less likely than non-veterans to attain a bachelor degree and slightly more likely to drop out of higher education without attaining a degree of any sort. Deployments extend their time to degree, and multiple deployments can significantly delay graduation.The challenges associated with transitioning from the military into higher education are heightened when a student has a disability – physical, psychological, or emotional. Common disabilities that are emerging from Iraq and Afghanistan include amputations, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder.To enable student veterans to succeed, institutions need to develop holistic initiatives to mediate student veterans’ transition and persistence, and develop appropriate programs and services that recognize their skills, family responsibilities, and distinct needs. This book outlines best practices for student affairs; describes innovative approaches to administrative services and support; suggests streamlining policies and procedures to make the campus “veteran friendly”; proposes ideas for academic programs; looks at the implications for course structure and design; considers the classroom environment; and explores how classroom policies impact student veterans. One chapter examines the issue of student veteran success specifically from the point of view of two-year institutions. The authors stress the importance of collaborative approaches across divisions and functions providing all stakeholders on campus with a comprehensive view of how they can support each to ensure the success of their student veterans.

As both the number of women in the military and number of student veterans increase, college campuses must be prepared to serve both men and women student veterans. Student veterans differ from other student populations in some clear ways, such as the potential exposure to trauma like combat, but also have many similarities to other student populations, like being a parent while attending college. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore the experiences of women student veterans as they transition from active duty military to becoming a student, the challenges they faced, and how they created meaning of the transition experience. Qualitative data was be collected through interviewing 11 participants in one 45-minute, face-to-face, semi-structured interview and a single 90-minute follow-up, face-to-face, semi-structured interview. This study addressed the literature gap regarding the impact of gender on student veteran transitions into student life. This study makes recommendations for various collegiate stakeholders on how to better serve women student veterans but does not intend to provide a one-size-fits-all solution since each institution and student veteran is different.

This book brings together a collection of chapters with different research designs that explore the research, practice, and policies of community colleges. The chapters in this book are the result of the graduate students and their faculty mentor’s scholarly work, and a rigorous special issue’s peer review process. Furthermore, this book offers recommendations on how to mentor graduate students, in the absence of research and mentorship on how to publish for graduate students and practitioner-scholars, as well as recognizing that graduate programs and professional associations are important on the socialization of practitioner-scholars. Each book chapter addresses the implications for practice and future research, policy for community colleges, and recommendation for change indicated by the research results. Five broad research themes, higher education policy, leadership practices and roles, network community, student success, and technology, emerged from the empirical articles and critical reviews. A final chapter shares advice and lessons learned from the 30 authors and mentors. With the exception of Chapter 14, the chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice.