Share this
Urban or Rural - Supporting Student Veterans Wherever They Live
by Doug Heckman on Aug 30, 2021
Collaboration has long been essential to creating sustainable education and career pathways for veterans and transitioning service members. CAEL's advocacy for nontraditional learners has always led to natural partnerships with institutions seeking to better serve student veterans. In the fall of 2009, a new trend began to emerge that underscored the relevance of those partnerships: the first eligible cohorts of service members who had earned benefits through the Post-9/11 GI Bill. With the bill's expansion of education benefits, more veterans transitioned to higher education rather than directly entering the civilian workforce. As a result, there was greater urgency in ensuring postsecondary curricula and support services were well aligned with the unique needs of the military-connected population.
Although veterans acquire valuable skills during their service, a path to the civilian workplace may not be immediately apparent or recognized. As is the case with nontraditional learners in general, tailored resources that enable informed education and employment choices can help boost retention and completion, reduce student expenses, and launch learners into rewarding careers. In 2011, CAEL's work to address service-to-education challenges led to the creation of the Veterans Higher Education Affinity Group (VHEAG). Over the last decade, CAEL has leveraged the collective voice of its VHEAG members in advocacy efforts, encouraging cross-learning and the development of best practices, addressing issues around military benefits, recognizing military learning through prior learning assessment, and advocating for disability accommodations.
With grant support from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the VHEAG continues to serve as a unique learning and resource group. The group regularly convenes veteran-serving academic professionals from nearly 40 institutions - two-year colleges, four-year universities, and public and private schools. These institutions collaborate around a common priority: identifying and removing the barriers Chicagoland student veterans face when pursuing a postsecondary education.
Last year, CAEL expanded its partnership with the McCormick Foundation as it worked with a focused group of grantee partners to extend veterans programs. In October, CAEL was pleased to launch the Alliance for Veterans in Higher Education (AVHE), bringing the VHEAG model to Downstate Illinois. This new group brings together a diverse set of veteran-focused stakeholders including higher ed institutions, state and local agencies, and veteran service organizations. This unique collaboration offers a holistic perspective in maximizing educational opportunities and career success for rural veterans.
The new collaboration launched with AVHE's inaugural meeting in October and continued with a series of focus groups over the spring. In June, CAEL held AVHE's first annual summer symposium, where the group gained insight from leadership at the DoD's Transition Assistance Program (TAP) as well as strategies for leveraging new updates recently made to the online ACE Military Guide. Breakout discussions identified future opportunities to increase awareness of scholarship opportunities for Illinois veterans as well as ways to work with local active duty and National Guard installations.
An additional dynamic that has emerged from CAEL's recent work is the need to focus beyond degree completion and into career pathways. There is a trend for student veterans to earn a degree and pursue employment in urban areas, on the assumption there likely aren't rewarding opportunities to apply their skills and experience in rural areas. While job opportunities are greater in large cities, this widens the skills gap many rural Illinois communities face. To that end, AVHE is also centering on the importance of developing and sustaining viable career pathways located in rural communities.
With skills gaps threatening industries and entire economies, veterans have a vital role to play in sustainable talent pipelines. With training and experience in both hard and human skills, veterans should be a high priority among educators and employers looking for ways to further the mutual success they can find at the intersection of learning and work. For more information about CAEL's work to support student veterans and their institutions, visit cael.org.
Doug Heckman, a former Air Force officer, is senior director of partnership development for CAEL.
Share this
- Adult Learner Success (107)
- Success Stories (71)
- CAEL Members (70)
- Workforce Development (57)
- Credit for Prior Learning (53)
- Best Practices (47)
- Career Pathways Support (30)
- Work-based Learning (29)
- Strategic Partnerships (27)
- Impact (26)
- Trends in Higher Education (25)
- Upskilling and Reskilling (20)
- DEI (19)
- Retention and Completion (18)
- Curation (17)
- Talent Management (17)
- Q&A (16)
- Adult Learner 360 (15)
- Policy (12)
- Short-term Credentials (11)
- Competency Based Education (CBE) (10)
- Adult Learner Academy (9)
- Student support (9)
- Enrollment (8)
- Research (7)
- Student Stories (7)
- Transfer Students (7)
- Experiential Learning (6)
- Featured (6)
- HSIs (6)
- In the news (6)
- Military-connected Learners (6)
- NACTEL (6)
- Online Learning (6)
- Case Studies (5)
- Community colleges (5)
- EPCE (5)
- Education Benefits (5)
- Wraparound Support (4)
- Apprenticeships (3)
- COVID-19 (3)
- Future of work (3)
- Guest blog (3)
- Structural Approaches to Learning (3)
- Accelerated Program (2)
- Credit Predictor Pro (2)
- HBCUs (2)
- Tuition (2)
- Skills-based hiring (1)
- Student parents (1)
- September 2024 (6)
- August 2024 (10)
- July 2024 (9)
- June 2024 (8)
- May 2024 (11)
- April 2024 (5)
- March 2024 (7)
- February 2024 (5)
- January 2024 (7)
- December 2023 (9)
- November 2023 (7)
- October 2023 (3)
- September 2023 (4)
- August 2023 (3)
- July 2023 (5)
- June 2023 (8)
- May 2023 (9)
- April 2023 (5)
- March 2023 (6)
- February 2023 (5)
- January 2023 (3)
- December 2022 (4)
- November 2022 (7)
- October 2022 (7)
- September 2022 (6)
- August 2022 (6)
- July 2022 (4)
- June 2022 (6)
- May 2022 (4)
- April 2022 (4)
- March 2022 (3)
- February 2022 (5)
- January 2022 (5)
- December 2021 (4)
- November 2021 (2)
- October 2021 (8)
- September 2021 (4)
- August 2021 (4)
- July 2021 (2)
- June 2021 (6)
- May 2021 (5)
- April 2021 (9)
- March 2021 (8)
- February 2021 (5)
- January 2021 (4)
- December 2020 (4)
- November 2020 (3)
- October 2020 (6)
- September 2020 (2)
- August 2020 (1)
- July 2020 (4)
- May 2020 (2)
- April 2020 (1)
- March 2020 (2)
- February 2020 (3)
- January 2020 (3)
- December 2019 (2)
- July 2019 (1)
- May 2019 (1)
- February 2019 (1)
- January 2019 (1)
- October 2018 (4)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (1)
- July 2018 (1)
- May 2018 (1)
- April 2018 (2)
- March 2018 (1)
- February 2018 (2)
- September 2017 (1)
- August 2017 (2)
- July 2017 (5)
- June 2017 (4)
- May 2017 (3)
- March 2017 (1)
- February 2017 (4)
- December 2016 (3)
- November 2016 (1)
- October 2016 (3)
- August 2016 (8)
- July 2016 (2)
- June 2016 (2)
- May 2016 (5)
- April 2016 (2)
- March 2016 (6)
- February 2016 (9)
- January 2016 (4)
- January 2015 (2)