Veteran Services Need Resources to Support Vet Education
By Kellyn Costello
Staff Writer
Published January 23, 2019
A vital part of campus life, Veteran Services, needs more resources to expand what they can offer veterans.
In 2018 there were 536 veterans enrolled at Green River College. Each of them relied on Veteran Services to ensure they could access their GI benefits so they could continue their education.
Jacob Nichols, a senior staff assistant at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), said, “In very general terms, the Post 9/11 GI Bill is a more customized benefit with respect to each student’s educational pursuit and location.”
Even after veterans qualify to receive their benefits, there is still a complicated process that follows. The State Accrediting Agency is responsible for approving the institution and degree program for the VA, and academic performance is important to qualifying for benefits as well. This is where Veteran Services comes in.
Three people are in charge of helping our veterans, and they all are personally invested in Veteran Services. Director of Student Support Services, Jamie Hatleberg, is the daughter of a U.S. Navy veteran. A Program Manager and School Certifying Official, Jessie Kimes, was a military partner. Manila Mercurio, who served in the U.S. Navy for five years, is the program specialist and school certifying official. The Veteran Services team is dedicated to students and would like to expand what the team can offer.
Veteran Services is responsible for maintaining communications between the VA and veteran students, but the team sees there is much more veterans could benefit from.
“Many of the veterans wanting to start school are exploring and may not yet know if GRC will meet their needs. Since they are transitioning out of military service, it’s not simply a question of ‘Do they have the degree I want?’” said the Veterans Services team. “Their questions are more research based—for example, how many of my military/prior college credits transfer over?…It’s because of these reasons we feel our veterans would benefit from having services targeted to prospective students.”
Targeting prospective students is a great way to help veterans, and has a long term benefit. Program Manager for the Vet Corps and Veteran Conservation Corps, Jason Alves, explains that education benefits are among the most effective recruiting tools for our military. What does pursuing an education mean after service?
“There are several studies that show when a veteran completes a degree, or certificate program their lifetime earnings double, their civic engagement increases, their lifetime need for government supported assistance decreases and the terrible statistic of 22 suicides per day drastically decreases,” said Alves.
Yet Veteran Services does not have the means to look for any veterans who might be interested in Green River College.
The Veteran Services team said, “At this time, VA education benefit certifications make up a significant portion of our duties. Until that eases up, we continue to do our best to respond to inquiries from prospective students.”
Student Outreach is largely responsible for finding prospective students and informing them of what Green River College has to offer, but their services are very generalized. They look for a variety of students but said, “We’d love to have a specific staff member assigned to the many prospective student populations in and around the college, including a person or team that specialized in veteran outreach.”
Green River College has a growing number of veteran students, and with this comes Veteran Services’ desire to grow and extend the abilities of their program to meet the needs of our students.
