Serving Those Who Serve:

Supporting Military and Veteran Students through Policy and Procedure

MJ

M.J. Caro

Registrar

ERAU Daytona

Beach Campus

Edward Tr

ombley

Registra

r

ERAU World

wide

Campus

MJ/Ed

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Ed

Who We Are…•Daytona Beach Campus:• Total Enrollment – Over 5,500 students• 75% Male•Predominantly traditional-age students• 20% International• Two most popular programs:•BS in Aeronautical Science•BS in Aerospace Engineering

•Prescott, AZ Campus:• Total Enrollment – 2,000 students

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• 25,000 active students

• Non-traditional student population

• 3,800 grads annually

• 140 locations Worldwide

• Locations on military bases and civilian sites; online division

• HQ in Daytona Beach

Ed

Non-Traditional Students and Transfer: A Focus on Military and Veteran Students

•The non-traditional student defined•Life skills vs. school skills•Academic credit vs. experiential/military credit MJ

Military and Veteran Students

•Additional obstacles for military and veteran students•Military credit•Military and veteran student

outcomes

Ed

Enrollment Trends of Non-Traditional Students

•Non-traditional student data lacking•Numbers of non-traditional students growing at triple the rate

of traditional age students•Non-traditional students are not as successful as their

traditional student counterparts in persistence and graduation•Non-traditional students less likely to have earned a degree

within five years• 50% of non-traditional students were no longer enrolled after

three yearsMJ

ENROLLMENT OF NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS

Contrary to popular perception, a substantial proportion of independent college students are 25 or older (44 percent), attend part-time (29 percent), or work while attending college (78 percent).

Source: National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU), 2006, Twelve Facts That May Surprise You About Private Higher Education. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. MJ

Enrollment Trends of Military and Veteran Students

• Defining student veterans

• Characteristics of student veterans

• What does the growing number of student veterans need?MJ

Admissions Challenges of Non-Traditional Students

•Non-mobile•Wary of testing: admissions vs. placement testing•To remediate or not to remediate? (That is the question….)

Ed

Social and Cultural Challenges for Student Veterans

•Greater life experience, but…• Social life and campus

culture• Study demands vs. life

demands• Service-related stress issues

Ed

Social and Cultural Challenges for Student Veterans, continued

• Delayed enrollment• No high school

diploma• Part-time enrollment• Financial

independence

Risk factors which may impede student persistence and completion rates:

Among student veterans, 44 percent were found to display four or more of these risk factors

• Having dependents• Single-parent

status• Full-time

employment

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Social and Cultural Challenges for Student Veterans, Continued

• Student age (“I am an adult…”)• Age of the instructor (“My teacher is just a

kid…”)• Customer attitude (“I paid for this

course…”)• Ignorance of the law (“Nobody told me

that…”)• Treatment of the university schedule as a

personal calendar (“I was on vacation/travelling for work, so I should be excused from…”)

From admissions to advising: exceptions to policy and procedure requests

Ed

Communicate expectations clearly and peremptorily

•Robust orientation programs

•Admissions counseling

•Ongoing academic advisement

MJ/Ed

Tools to Serve the Non-Traditional Student

•ERAU Worldwide

Ed

Tools to Serve the Non-Traditional Student

•ERAU Daytona Beach

MJ

While student veterans bring life experience, work and career knowledge, self-discipline, and a strong work ethic to their academic endeavors, they also possess special needs and challenges. These students can be a rich addition to a campus culture and come away from their educational experience with additional skills, tools, and knowledge to help them with their future goals, as long as these needs are met and challenges addressed. MJ/Ed

REFERENCES• American Council on Education. 2014. ACE Transfer Guide: Understanding Your Military Transcript and ACE Credit Recommendations.• American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. 2014. Helping Veterans Succeed: A Handbook for Higher

Education Administrators. Washington, D.C. • Ang, Tanya, and Dani Molina. 2014. From Access to Graduation: Supporting Post-9/11 Undergraduate Student Veterans. Higher

Education Today. Retrieved Dec. 22, 2014 from: http://higheredtoday.org/2014/11/10/from-access-to-graduation-supporting-post-911-undergraduate-student-veterans/.

• Cates, C.A. 2014. Million Records Project: Research from Student Veterans of America. Student Veterans of America, Washington, DC. 1-2. Retrieved Dec. 22, 2014 from: http://www.studentveterans.org/images/Reingold_Materials/mrp/download-materials/SVA_MillionRecordsProject_ExecutiveSummary.pdf.

• Choy, S. 2002. Findings from the Condition of Education 2002: Nontraditional Undergraduates. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved Jan. 1, 2015 from: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/2002012.pdf.

• Community College of the Air Force 2014-16 Catalog. Available at: http://www.au.af.mil/au/barnes/ccaf/catalog/2014cat/2014_2016_General_catalog.pdf.

• Credit: Transfer, Military, Time Limits, and Advanced Standing. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide 2014-15 Catalog. Available at: http://catalog.erau.edu/worldwide/student-services-academic-affairs/credit/.

• Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Campus Toolkit Handout. Retrieved Dec. 15, 2015 from http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/studentveteran/docs/ed_todaysStudentVets.html

• Gordon. Evelyn J. 2014. “Do I have to Take This Class?” Nontraditional Students’ Attitudes Toward and Perceptions of a Required Effective Learning Course. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 62 (3): 163-172. DOI: 10.1080/07377363.2014.956029.

• Retrieved Dec. 22, 2014 from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07377363.2014.956029.• Kortesoja, Sandra L. 2009. Postsecondary Choices of Nontraditional-age Students: Non-credit Courses or a Credential Program? Review

of Higher Education. Retrieved Jan. 2, 2015 from: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/220851966/fulltext?accountid=27203.

• Making the Case Charts, Data and Resources: Enrollment of Non-traditional Students. The Council of Independent Colleges. Retrieved Dec. 31, 2014 from: http://www.cic.edu/Research-and-Data/Making-the-Case/Pages/Enrollment-of-Non-traditional-Students.aspx.

• Military and Veterans. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach, 2014-15 Catalog. Available at: http://daytonabeach.erau.edu/military/index.html.

• National Center for Education Statistics. 2011. Six-Year Attainment, Persistence, Transfer, Retention, and Withdrawal Rates of Students Who Began Postsecondary Education in 2003–04. Retrieved Feb. 6 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011152.pdf.

• Non-traditional Undergraduates: Highlights. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved Dec. 31, 2014 from: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs/web/97578a.asp.

• Radford, Alexandria Walton. 2011. Military Service Members and Veterans: A Profile of Those Enrolled in Undergraduate and Graduate Education in 2007-08. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved Dec. 31, 2014 from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED524042.pdf.

• Skomsvold, Paul, Alexandria Walton Radford, and Lutz Berkner. 2011. Web Tables: Six-Year Attainment, Persistence, Transfer, Retention, and Withdrawal Rates of Students Who Began Postsecondary Education in 2003–04. Retrieved Feb. 13, 2015 from: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011152.pdf

• Steele, Jennifer L., Nicholas Salcedo, and James Coley. 2010. Service Members in School: Military Members’ Experiences Using the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Pursuing Postsecondary Education. Rand Corporation. Retrieved Jan. 2, 2015 from: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2011/RAND_MG1083.pdf.

• Taniguchi, Hiromi and Gayle Kaufman. 2005. Degree Completion Among Nontraditional College Student. Social Science Quarterly, Volume 86, Number 4, 912-913. Southwestern Social Science Association.

• The Air University: Welcome to the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF). Available at: http://www.au.af.mil/au/barnes/ccaf/index.asp.

• Transfer Guide: Understanding Your Military Transcript and ACE Credit Recommendations. ACE: American Council on Education. Available at: http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Transfer-Guide-Understanding-Your-Military-Transcript-and-ACE-Credit-Recommendations.aspx.

• VA Campus Toolkit Handout: Characteristics of Student Veterans. Department of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved Dec. 31, 2014 from: http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/studentveteran/docs/ed_todaysStudentVets.html.

M.J. Caro, Registrar ERAU Daytona Beach Campus

dbrecrds@erau.edu386-226-6339

Edward Trombley, RegistrarERAU Worldwide Campus

worldwide.registrar@erau.edu386-226-6140