Veterans in higher education : when Johnny and Jane came marching to campus

It's estimated that, in the coming decade, as many as 2 million students with military experience will take advantage of their education benefits and attend institutions in all sectors of higher education. This monograph provides useful information about students with military experience who attending college by blending the theoretical, practical and empirical.

The authors assemble some of the best-known theories and research in the literature of the field to provide starting points from which to investigate the phenomenon of today's veteran attending college. Other frameworks and theories, particularly from the literature on college student development, from recognizable names such as Baxter Magolda, Braxton, Chickering, Schlossberg, and Tinto, are used--sometimes directly in their own words. New issues to our generation, such as the unique subpopulation of women veterans and the challenges they face, are explored.

This volume equips higher education professional with a fundamental understanding of the issues faced by the student veteran population and aims to enable them in their roles of providing sorely needed assistance in the transition to college, persistence at the institution, and degree attainment.

This is the third issue in the 37th volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report . Each monograph in the series is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education problem, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.

• Executive Summary p. ix
• Foreword p. xiii
• Acknowledgments p. xvii
• Old Friends and New Faces p. 1
• Home Alone? Applying Theories of Transition to Support Student Veterans' Success p. 7
• A Model for Supporting Student Veterans' Transition p. 11
• Conclusion p. 17
• Commentary from Nancy K. Schlossberg p. 18
• What Matters to Veterans? Peer Influences and the Campus Environment p. 21
• The Military Bond p. 21
• Inputs, Environment, and Outcomes p. 22
• Inputs, Environment, and Outcomes for Veterans p. 25
• Peer Group Supports and Influences p. 27
• Summary and Recommendations p. 29
• Commentary from Alexander W. Astin p. 32
• Transition 2.0: Using Tinto's Model to Understand Student Veterans' Persistence p. 35
• Transition and Preentry Attributes p. 36
• Goals and Commitments p. 40
• Initial Institutional Experiences p. 41
• Transition 2.0: Academic and Social Integration p. 44
• Transition 2.0: Academic and Social Integration with the Campus Community p. 46
• Career Services and the Student Veteran p. 47
• New-Goals and Intent to Persist p. 48
• Critics of Academic and Social Integration p. 48
• Conclusion p. 50
• Commentary from John M. Braxton p. 51
• Crisis of Identity? Veteran, Civilian, Student p. 53
• Identity Development and Knowledge of Self p. 54
• Self and Others p. 55
• Multiple Roles and Intersecting Identities p. 56
• Crisis, Exploration, and Commitment p. 59
• Multiple Dimensions of Identity p. 59
• Typologies p. 61
• Conclusion p. 65
• Commentary from Linda Reisser p. 66
• Women Warriors: Supporting Female Student Veterans p. 69
• Enduring Effects of Male Turf: Gender and Assumptions p. 72
• Mothers and Warriors: Care and Justice p. 73
• Into a College Environment: Developing a Voice p. 75
• Help Seeking: Learning to Cope p. 77
• Marching Together: Summary p. 78
• Commentary from Margaret Baechtold p. 79
• Ideas for a Self-Authorship Curriculum for Students with Military Experience p. 81
• Classes for Veterans p. 84
• Meaning Making and Self-Authorship p. 86
• Concept Mapping for Curriculum Planning p. 86
• Conclusion p. 90
• Commentary from Marcia B. Baxter Magolda p. 91
• Institutional Response to an Emerging Population of Veterans p. 95
• EFA Factor 1 Financial Matters p. 101
• EFA Factor 2 Administrative and Strategic Planning p. 105
• EFA Factor 3 Advising and Career Services p. 106
• EFA Factor 4 Psychological Counseling Services p. 107
• EFA Factor 5 Veterans Office on Campus p. 111
• Conclusion p. 112
• Concluding Thoughts p. 113
• Appendix A A Veteran's Essay p. 117
• Appendix B Example Syllabus p. 119
• References p. 121
• Name Index p. 135
• Subject Index p. 139
• About the Authors p. 143