By Deborah Bailey
Veterans and their dependents are flocking to college classrooms after enlistment days are over, thanks to educational benefits available to most veterans and their families after honorable discharge from military service. The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007 is sending veterans and their families to college in record numbers.
The Washington, D.C. region’s three historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have rolled out the welcome mat to hundreds of veterans and dependents this fall, with specialized outreach to and services for those honorably discharged men and women and their families.
Only one in three veterans holds a bachelor’s degree, a ratio lower than the national average for persons 25 and older, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Moreover, Black female military spouses are three times more likely to be unemployed in comparison to their civilian counterparts.
Bowie State University, University of the District of Columbia and Howard University have each developed specialized programs and services for veterans and their families. Each campus offers the support of trained veterans’ affairs and counseling staff with the skills to help student veterans and their dependents take the journey from active military service to the classroom and success in civilian life.
“Most of our student veterans are a little older than the traditional college student,” said Andre Clayton, director of Bowie State University’s Veteran Resource Center. Clayton said the 350 veterans, dependents and active-duty students who utilize services through the Veterans Resource Center are primarily from Maryland, but he gets many calls from students across the nation interested in using GI benefits to attend classes at the suburban Maryland school.