From Rucksack to JanSport
Just because they took off the uniform, doesn’t mean the war is over
By Megan Turchi
Jonathan Chan is 27-years old and lives in the Boston University undergraduate dorms. Just a few months ago, Chan was carrying a gun.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps right after high school — he wasn’t ready for college yet. He applied to colleges in September 2013, was accepted to Boston University, got out of the Marines in July 2014 and was a Boston University undergrad by September 2014.
But the battle wasn’t over.
Chan is one of 250 veterans attending Boston University this fall. Chan is also, like many BU veterans, paying full tuition.
Because of that cost, he’s not sure he will be around next semester.
The Original GI Bill
After WWI veterans got about $60 and a train ticket home as soon as the war ended. Many vets could not make a living — Congress then passed the World War Adjusted Act of 1924, or the Bonus Bill.
According to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA), WWI vets got one dollar per day served in the United States and $1.25 per day served overseas, but many veterans did not receive their money for more than 20 years.
In 1932, veterans protested and had their own “March on Washington” to demand payment.
After WWII, congress handled the situation differently, immediately passing the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI bill.
The new law’s key purposes were education and training, loan guaranty for homes, farms or businesses, and unemployment pay.
The act gave college tuition, food, books, supplies and counseling services for veterans to continue their education, according to the National Archives.
The response to the change was overwhelming and created a whole new generation of upwardly mobile former soldiers. According to the Veterans Administration, by 1947 veterans made up 49 percent of college admissions.
Boston University Veterans Lack Support
The Boston University Veterans Association meets once a week at the Dugout, a local on-campus bar where they chat about veterans’ issues. This week, they invited the Boston University Dean of Students, Kenneth Elmore.
“We just need education to transition to a civil career,” said Tiana Alves, president of the club, during their club meeting.
“Happy belated Veterans Day,” Suraiya Kalpee, the club’s secretary and BU medical student said to the group.
Before Dean Elmore arrived the vets discussed how other schools in Boston had classes cancelled on Veterans Day, but Boston University did not. They said at Northeastern, veterans have a memorial ceremony on Veterans Day.
“It’s a big deal,” Alves said.
Once Dean Elmore arrived, the students talked about the possibility of getting more funding for their club, which at the moment is pretty small. They are constantly looking for new ways for other vets on campus to get involved.
But, there was a bigger issue than just club funding — the real issue they brought up was a desire to increase the number of “Yellow Ribbon scholars,” which falls under the most current GI Bill.
Yellow Ribbon scholarships grant vets all free resident tuition for a public school and that amount of tuition if they chose to go to a private school. Private schools then have the choice to how they want to participate in the program and if they want to match what the government gives.
Right now, BU has 25 Yellow Ribbon scholars.
Are There Enough Yellow Ribbons To Go Around?
“I don’t know if I can come here next semester out of my own personal savings,” Chan told Dean Elmore at the meeting. “I want to stay here.”
Boston University has only 25 Yellow Ribbon Scholarships to give out. Since the new GI Bill, the spots are also open to dependents of veterans, therefore leaving even less of an opportunity to those who served.
Chan is not a Yellow Ribbon Scholar at BU, and he could have gone to University of Massachusetts, Boston for free under the Post-9/11 Bill, since it is a public school, but he wanted to go to BU.
The vets at the meeting told Dean Elmore that other private schools in the area, like Northeastern, have Yellow Ribbon Scholarships for everyone who qualifies under the Post-9/11 Bill.
“There are different priorities,” Dean Elmore told them. “Like PhD students.”
Elmore said that they don’t give money just for being Catholic or African American — he thinks there are a variety of constituencies that would want extra funding.
“If we commit more Yellow Ribbons,” Dean Elmore said, “There will be other slots we don’t have.”
The veterans seem to think there is more to it than that.
“It’s a missed opportunity,” Ivan Arreguin, the faculty liaison for the Boston University Veterans Association. “I live in a democracy with a military literacy of zero.”
Dean Elmore continued to peg money as an issue.
“Are we going to let everyone take a sip, or let you have the whole glass?” he said.
“There’s a lot of incentive to leave BU and go somewhere else,” Jeff Bristol, the association’s vice president said. “The choice is to go to school for free or take loans.”
Dean Elmore said every college student, veteran or non- veteran, is faced with this choice when it comes to public or private schools.
Alves seemed to think that being a veteran is a positive for not just the students, but the school as a whole.
She said that people in the military come to college with traits colleges want, like hard work and leadership. She thinks having vets at school will eventually be beneficial for BU when they enter into the job market.
“You went to BU and you are a fantastic employee,” she said.
Fitting In
It is not just about fitting in for veterans at Boston University. Though they do not go around bragging about their veteran status, the qualities they learned in their time of service have transferred over into the classroom, not without its challenges. It doesn’t end at the financial cost of their education.
Sean Donahue
After serving for only two years, Sean Donahue was in a car accident, that prohibited him from every joining the military again.
Sean Donahue is now in grad school for coaching at BU, but he did not exactly have the trajectory of a typical student. He loves WWII movies and it was a lifelong dream of his to be in the Army.
He went to the United States Military Academy from 1999 to 2003, played on the hockey team for two years until the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when he decided it was time for him to just focus on schooling. He majored in international law, as he wanted a major that would be applicable to him since the United States was going to go to war.
He started his service after he graduated and served two years before getting in a car accident in April 2005, which put him in the hospital for a year and a half. He broke many bones, his neck, ruptured his spleen and liver, and got the most severe brain injury you can get.
He asked to join back up when he was released from the hospital, but was told “thanks, but no thanks.”
“I am lucky to be walking and talking and going to B.U.,” he said.
“I had to think outside of my frame of reference,” Donahue said in regards to how he transitioned back to civilian student life at B.U. “Everything at West Point was so structured.”
He said at West Point you never show up late to class, that is, unless you want to do pushups.
“It’s actually pretty neat, because I am one of the older students there,” he said about what it is like to go to school with students that don’t have his same life experiences. “It opens peoples’ views up and takes their blinders off.”
He thinks its been a positive experience transitioning and the time in the military helped him to get where he is today. He has made friends at BU.
“The best advice that was given to me was lead by example,” he said. “So that’s why I kinda always took charge.”
Brian Lowry
Brian Lowry didn’t go to a military academy, but immediately after getting his associates degree in Minnesota, joined the Army in 2005. A lot of his family had been in the Navy and his twin brother went straight after high school.
“I didn’t want to be in the same branch and then be lower ranked than he was,” Lowry said. “My family was pretty mad.”
He served for four years active duty, which included going to Iraq for 15 months. He then went home, was in the reserves and finished up his last two years of undergrad at Metropolitan State University with a business degree.
“All of a sudden I go back to school after the Army and you have such a military mentality,” he said. “Everything is on your own all of a sudden. The majority of what you are doing is by yourself.”
He said it was a culture shock and he really missed the Army (which he said eventually faded and then he wondered how he ever joined.)
He mainly missed his friends and his close knit group.
He was going to join the army again until he decided to be a financial advisor. He changed his mind for a second time when he chose to get his masters at BU.
“Everything in the Army is all about teamwork, you are never working alone, whether you like it or not,” he said. “There are so many people in so many areas that you have to learn to get along with.”
He said at BU the same lessons apply — he is always having to learn to work with people from different backgrounds.
He said he really relates to something is brother said: “The military is not better or worse than your regular civilian life, it’s just a completely different life.”
Jonathan Chan
Last year, before starting at BU Chan would work his 12–14 hour days on the base at Camp Pendleton and then would take general education classes at night for three and a half hours.
“I love the Marine Corps and I have nothing bad to say about it,” he said. “I just wanted to do school.”
He said the money is winding down for the military.
“They are still cutting back, so promotions are tighter,” he said. “I had just been promoted to Staff Sergeant so I could have ridden that out for a twenty year retirement and retired at 38. I wanted to have this.”
He thought this would be harder, but this was the better route, but he would like to be in the reserves later.
“Almost half (46 percent) of military families, including senior non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers with household incomes of at least $50,000, are concerned about their job security in the coming months,” according to the San Antonio Business Journal.
Those who have chosen the military as their career may, if they haven’t already, seen cutbacks and layoffs, calling in to question the roll that education should and will play for veterans.
There are many minorities looking to start a new life and go to college — universities like Boston University, need to decide where their priorities lie.
But for now, the war continues.
