Abstract:
Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are enrolling in higher education at a
rapidly increasing pace. Though there is a growing body of research about this newest
generation of student-veterans, what is lacking is an exploration of veteran’s social and
institutional biography and the qualities of higher education institutions that most impact
their transition experience. To address these questions, I conducted a qualitative study
about the experiences of military veterans as they transitioned to higher education,
observing a student-veteran organization and conducting semi-structured interviews and
focus groups with 22 veterans attending a large public university. The research revealed
two aspects of their biography that posed challenges when they first arrived on the
college campus—social class and military service. Many veterans suffer the “hidden injuries” of coming from a working-class
background—an aspect of their transition that has been under-examined. While the military is credited with being an unusually class-leveling institution, time during service
does nothing to diminish many of the class effects that make higher education
challenging for those who were from poor or working-class homes, therefore social class
reemerges as an influential factor in the transition. The military has transformed them in
some ways that are particularly misaligned with the university, contributing to what many
of them experience as culture shock. Adjustment to life post-“total institution” with the
nebulous identity of “veteran” compounded the difficulty of reintegration. My research
suggests that veterans in transition seem to experience the university as primarily what it
is not. As campuses develop and evaluate initiatives to meet the needs of student-veterans,
some best practices have emerged. Two of the recommendations most often
mentioned are mentorship programs and university-supported student-veteran
organizations; what veterans gain through those organizations and interactions is a sense
of belonging. This research offers an important contribution for those committed to
assisting student-veterans and offers five concrete suggestions: identify the veterans on
campus; facilitate programs that enhance sense of belonging; sensitize faculty; centralize
resources; and maintain ongoing dialogue with the student-veteran population.
