Higher education helps Minnesota veterans returning from Iraq
When Carin Anderson returned to Platteville, Wisc. from Iraq in 2004 after a 14-month deployment, her college roommates and friends had graduated and moved on. “Our town had a parade for my unit, then we were out-processed in a couple of days and I was on my own,” she says. “You get so close to the people you’re with over there and your life is very regulated. It’s hard when you have to start making decisions on your own again.”
Carin Anderson in Iraq, 2003
Anderson discovered that she didn’t really know what she wanted to do, but she did want to finish college. She decided to transfer to the University of Wisconsin – River Falls (she had been at the Platteville campus) and earned a communications degree in December 2005. She now works as a Veterans Certification Coordinator at the University of Minnesota where she puts her personal experience to good use. “Vets can be overwhelmed with getting back,” she says. “Because I understand what they’ve been through and know the system, I try to help them with their education needs. They’re eligible for many benefits, but it’s confusing and there is a lot of paperwork.”
This summer 2,600 Minnesota National Guard members will return from their tour in Iraq and assistance with higher education needs is just one of the challenges these soldiers will face. To help them adjust to civilian life and re-integrate into the community, a program called “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon” was formed by Chaplain Major John Morris of the Minnesota Army National Guard in 2005. It trains Guard members, their families and communities to recognize and address the challenges facing returning service members.
Chaplain Morris teaching a re-integration class
When regular military vets return to base they have time to process their experiences and receive support to transition to post-combat life. Guard members have only a few days of demobilization, says Morris, a Bethel University graduate. “These people no longer have their combat buddies or chain of command to rely on. They and their families have to put their lives back together. Many have to deal with experiences of combat. The stress can be overwhelming, so we’re trying to help,” he says.
Recognizing that vets have some unique issues when it comes to starting or resuming college, Minnesota’s public and private college and universities are working together to ease the way. Beyond the Yellow Ribbon has spawned a task force focusing on higher education; the group aims to facilitate admission, registration, payment and integration processes of veterans.
What campuses are doing
Some of the measures already taken at colleges and universities to ease veterans’ transition include waiving application fees at many schools and establishing offices where people like Anderson help vets navigate the VA benefits process. Plans are underway to add veteran centers on campuses across Minnesota and to provide training for staff and faculty in supporting vets.
Clarence Sharpe, director of transfer admissions at the College of St. Scholastica, works with the veterans on his campus. Sharpe, a Vietnam-era war veteran himself, knows of about 70 veteran students on his campus and he is trying to identify others. “We already have a Vet’s Club and are opening a Veterans Resource Center this fall that will offer all the information they need in one place,” he says. The school also has a staff social worker to coordinate the activities of the center and serve as a liaison to local veteran’s agencies.
Although the higher education task force is working with the National Guard, its work pertains to all vets, says Steve Frantz, chair of the task force and director of student affairs for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. “This is not about the politics or the policy behind the war. Very simply, this is about helping Minnesotans and their families as they return from Iraq or Afghanistan,” he says. “We expect these people to do great things upon their return and we want to support them.”
For more information, see the Minnesota National Guard Roapmap to Reintegration and Minnesota Veteran – Education.