Veterans
get support from Sacramento
By
Christine Sobodos
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his plans to work with California State
Universities to help veterans transition to college from military service,
with the intention of increasing veteran enrollment in California colleges.
To start this effort, Schwarzenegger has announced the development of the Veterans
Education Opportunities Partnership, which will connect military leaders with
the CSU, University of California and California Community College systems
to make the transition from one to the other much simpler.
The new plan to increase veteran enrollment in college is hoped to dramatically
bring this statistic to a higher percentage. According to Keith, the plan should
hopefully be started on this summer and will most likely be in effect starting
in the fall semester if all goes well.
Some of the goals of this partnership include making information about higher
education opportunities more readily available to veterans, improving financial
and academic counseling services, expanding priority admission for veterans,
making it easier for them to get into their colleges of choice, and appointing
a committee to establish future goals of the partnership.
In his announcement last month, Schwarzenegger said the GI Bill has been accessible
to all veterans, yet only about 50 percent of them are actually taking advantage
of the opportunity. The Montgomery GI Bill provides veterans with up to 36
months of education benefits that can be used for college, flight school, job
training and many other institutions. Some may receive over $36,000 in tuition
money, depending on the type of training completed and the duration of service.
The recipient of these benefits has up to 10 years to use their tuition money
unless they were to enter back into service during that time.
“
I think this is the challenge here,” Schwarzenegger said. “How
do we reach the veterans and inspire them and let them know that education
is very important, it’s available, it’s free and it will be great
for their future.”
According to Gabriel Calzada in the Veteran’s Office in Brotman Hall,
Cal State Long Beach currently has around 400 veterans attending CSULB. The
plan aims to assist about 60,000 Californians exiting military service each
year and greatly increase the number of veterans currently attending the California
Universities.
“
Veterans don’t have guaranteed jobs,” Calzada said, “so attending
school would help.”
Assistant Vice Chancellor of Public Affairs Claudia Keith said another reason
it is important to encourage veteran enrollment is “there are so many
[veterans] in California and many fit the profile of our typical student. Many
have experience in the medical field and with mathematics.”
The Army ROTC program provides many opportunities for training in such areas
of study as engineering, medical careers, physical science, computer science
and military intelligence, according to its Web site. After already having
the initial training in the areas the military provides, continuing in school
would allow them to gain further knowledge and experience in their areas of
focus and have an easier time completing their degree and getting a job in
that field.
|
