Serving Those Who Serve: Supporting Military and Veteran Students through Policy and Procedure MJ

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 MJ

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 years MJ

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.National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) 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 MJ

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 ACE Transfer Guide: Understanding Your Military Transcript and ACE Credit Recommendations. American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers Helping Veterans Succeed: A Handbook for Higher Education Administrators. Washington, D.C. Ang, Tanya, and Dani Molina From Access to Graduation: Supporting Post-9/11 Undergraduate Student Veterans. Higher Education Today. Retrieved Dec. 22, 2014 from: veterans/. veterans/ Cates, C.A Million Records Project: Research from Student Veterans of America. Student Veterans of America, Washington, DC Retrieved Dec. 22, 2014 from: materials/SVA_MillionRecordsProject_ExecutiveSummary.pdf. materials/SVA_MillionRecordsProject_ExecutiveSummary.pdf Choy, S Findings from the Condition of Education 2002: Nontraditional Undergraduates. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved Jan. 1, 2015 from: Community College of the Air Force Catalog. Available at: Credit: Transfer, Military, Time Limits, and Advanced Standing. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide Catalog. Available at: Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Campus Toolkit Handout. Retrieved Dec. 15, 2015 from Gordon. Evelyn J “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): DOI: / Retrieved Dec. 22, 2014 from: Kortesoja, Sandra L Postsecondary Choices of Nontraditional-age Students: Non-credit Courses or a Credential Program? Review of Higher Education. Retrieved Jan. 2, 2015 from: Making the Case Charts, Data and Resources: Enrollment of Non-traditional Students. The Council of Independent Colleges. Retrieved Dec. 31, 2014 from:

Military and Veterans. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach, Catalog. Available at: National Center for Education Statistics Six-Year Attainment, Persistence, Transfer, Retention, and Withdrawal Rates of Students Who Began Postsecondary Education in 2003–04. Retrieved Feb. 6 from Non-traditional Undergraduates: Highlights. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved Dec. 31, 2014 from: Radford, Alexandria Walton Military Service Members and Veterans: A Profile of Those Enrolled in Undergraduate and Graduate Education in National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved Dec. 31, 2014 from: Skomsvold, Paul, Alexandria Walton Radford, and Lutz Berkner 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: Steele, Jennifer L., Nicholas Salcedo, and James Coley 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: Taniguchi, Hiromi and Gayle Kaufman Degree Completion Among Nontraditional College Student. Social Science Quarterly, Volume 86, Number 4, Southwestern Social Science Association. The Air University: Welcome to the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF). Available at: Transfer Guide: Understanding Your Military Transcript and ACE Credit Recommendations. ACE: American Council on Education. Available at: and-ACE-Credit-Recommendations.aspx. and-ACE-Credit-Recommendations.aspx VA Campus Toolkit Handout: Characteristics of Student Veterans. Department of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved Dec. 31, 2014 from:

M.J. Caro, Registrar ERAU Daytona Beach Campus Edward Trombley, Registrar ERAU Worldwide Campus