Student Veterans as Adult Learners in the Post-9/11 Era

Student veterans have served our nation in various ways, many in combat, and they come to college with the goal of rejoining the civilian population and contributing to society in a meaningful way. Student affairs professionals have a key role in facilitating student veteran success, and that role need not be complicated or difficult. This module identifies innovative practices and programs in working with veterans and describes the types of on- and off -campus partnerships that institutions should build to increase the persistence and completion rates of veterans. Finally, this module offers a conceptual model for facilitating the success of veterans in college and outlines the role that student affairs professionals have in veteran success.

About the Short Course

This module is a part of the Increasing Adult Learner Completion and Persistence Rates short course. The complete course includes 9 total modules that are each available for purchase individually or as a course bundle.

This course is based on material from Increasing Adult Learner Persistence and Completion Rates: A Guide for Student Affairs Leaders and Practitioners, published and copyrighted by NASPA in 2014. The book was funded by a grant from the Lumina Foundation. Developed by NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Supported by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the West Virginia Community and Technical College System.

This module is based on the chapter authored by David Vacchi.

Although the nine modules available in this course bundle focus on different topics, they send five consistent messages:

• Colleges and universities need to build on the knowledge and experiences that adult learners bring to their institutions;
• no one can do it alone: collaboration, both internal and external, matters;
• student affairs must partner with adult learners to determine what they know, what their goals are, and what they need to succeed;
• support services must be intentionally designed, intelligently delivered, and thoughtfully assessed; and
• the future of student affairs may well depend on its ability to understand and effectively leverage technology.

Embedded in each module is another powerful message: The time for incremental change is over.