Veterans Returning to School Face Challenges
SALEM, Mass., April 5, 2017 — Men and women who return from the Armed Service and decide to go back to school face a difficult transition, but never let it show. I can attest to this, being a Marine Corps veteran and in my final semester to earn my Bachelor’s degree. I feel as if I am on a different planet from the rest of my peers seeing that I am, on average, a decade older and have experienced much more than the average student.
I’ve asked veterans in school the same question: “How has the transition been?”
Almost all of them seem to agree that it was not as easy as anticipated. Being older than the average student, with more life experience, you can see the drastic difference between the 18-year-old student who has never left home and the veteran who comes from a very structured establishment.
“I was four months removed from my deployment to my first semester, coming from a very structured environment where everyone has a similar mindset, going to where everyone has different mindsets and a lack of structure made it challenging and difficult to deal with,” said Nicholas Anastacio, Army veteran who is now a senior at Salem State University.
I understand that this is not true for every student and veteran returning, but it is largely factual. In our open-minded, individuality-promoting society, there is little to no attention given to the veteran population.
I have also found out that this is largely due to veterans not saying anything. We veterans feel like we don’t fit in, nor do we belong in the schooling environment.
Jenna Strizich, a Marine Corps veteran who graduated veterinary school in 2016 went on to say how some of the biggest challenges were caused by the age gap.
“I am an older student and only there to get my degree,” she said. Even though she did not deploy, she spoke about how difficult it was at first to reintegrate back to civilian life and school because of what she was accustomed to in the military.
Many if not most veterans pay for school through the G.I. Bill, which is a benefit for anyone who has at least 90 days of cumulative active duty service after Sept. 10, 2001, is on active duty, or has an honorable discharge or was discharged with a service-connected disability after 30 days. According to The Washington Post, 52 percent of veterans used this benefit in 2015. This may seem like a small percent, but it is steadily increasing.
“The GI Bill isn’t a thank you for your service,” said Tom Tarantino of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Speaking to Military.com, he explained how the G.I. Bill is a readjustment benefit. It gives the veteran an opportunity to do something constructive with their mind and helps to transition back into civilian life, he said.
Almost every veteran that I have contacted — buddies from the Marine Corps and others I meet along my life journey– all seem to want to find work before they attend school. There is a drive that steers us to look for purpose and camaraderie. Higher education seems to represent the opposite for most of us.
The reasonI continued my quest for higher education was because of my family and my wife constantly encouraging and pushing me towards acquiring my degree.
Just like Strizich, and many others, I find it necessary to get a step up in life by going to college after the service and earn my degree. For many, myself included, the opportunity to receive a completely paid for education is too good of an opportunity to pass up.
