GI Bill prompts colleges to adapt
Dozens of veterans and their dependents and spouses have decided to come to the north country's colleges with help from the post-9-11 GI Bill.
The bill has been around for a year, and area colleges are working on making themselves more attractive to and supportive of veterans, especially given the schools' proximity to Fort Drum.
"They have more choices now as far as institutions; the new benefits package is much more robust in that regard," said Rick A. Miller, SUNY Potsdam's vice president for institutional effectiveness and enrollment management. "I think it's forcing colleges and universities to take a look at services for veterans and try to remain competitive."
SUNY Potsdam has 80 veterans enrolled in courses. SUNY Canton has a combination of veterans, active reservists and dependents, totaling about 175 people who qualify for benefits.
Clarkson University, Potsdam, has about 28 veterans or dependents, and St. Lawrence University, Canton, has eight such students.
More than a third of the student body at Jefferson Community College, Watertown, is active soldiers from Fort Drum, veterans, dependents, retired military members or reservists.
The north country's colleges have been busy in the year since the GI Bill was passed, setting up lounges in which veterans can hang out, dedicating special advisers and staff members for them to go to and employing some understanding of what soldiers frequently go through when they are making the transition to civilian life.
"When they get back from over there, they tend to be mistrustful. They are taught to be when they're over there, and that comes back with them," said Kathryn M. DelGuidice, SUNY Canton director of lifelong learning. "A lot of veterans want to sit in the back of the classroom; they don't want their backs to the wall. We're paying attention to these things that really can be an obstacle to the student and their learning."
At Clarkson, college officials with military ties often step into the role of adviser to help students adjust. There is a veterans adviser for the undergraduate students, who like being connected to a faculty member who understands their perspective, according to Dean of Business Timothy F. Sugrue.
"I went to graduate school on the old GI bill, so I spend some time with each of these guys, particularly as they get close to the end of the pipeline, because that's when they really need my help," said Mr. Sugrue, who joined the Army shortly after the Vietnam War ended.
Colleges also are working hard to attract more veterans to their campuses; SUNY Canton has a "military friendly" link on its admissions page and SUNY Potsdam holds information sessions at Fort Drum at least once a year. Clarkson University has an active ROTC program and does a lot of military-related research.
Though the colleges all have special places for military personnel and their relatives to go for extra help, most campuses try to avoid singling veterans out in the classroom. In many cases, college officials say, soldiers do not want to attract extra attention.
"I think we have a population that don't disclose, that there's a point to which they really want to talk about it," Mr. Miller said. "I think they certainly would like to be treated as any other student would; they're not looking for any special treatment or recognition."
Most of the veterans taking advantage of the tuition and other types of benefits are men; Mr. Miller estimated that less than 10 percent of the veterans at SUNY Potsdam are women. None of the other schools had data on gender available.
However, adding veterans and students from military families adds to the color and composition of the campuses, officials said.
"The tag line the Army used to have is 'There's something special about a soldier,' and there is," Mr. Sugrue said. "Having veteran soldiers on our campus, in our programs, makes the program better. They separate out what's important from what's trivial. They don't see that the world is going to fall apart on the strength of one exam."
