UNC SERVES aims to ease transition for military-affiliated students

Christopher Davis didn’t have to make many decisions when he woke up everyday on a Navy frigate ship.

Davis served for three years as an operations specialist, working with radar and navigation tools in an environment designed to instill discipline.

Then Davis enrolled at N.C. State University, and suddenly decisions about time management confronted him constantly.

“It’s your choice whether to go to class or not,” he said. “Really having to spend a lot of time pushing yourself to study was the biggest transition.”

And it’s not always easy blending in with traditional college students, he said.

“You’re used to an atmosphere where you have an entire support system around you,” he said. “You spend the majority of your time with the same people — everyone becomes brothers and sisters — and it’s family.

“And then you come back to college, and you’re in class with 18-, 19-year-olds, and you’re much older, and you know they just don’t get it. It’s kind of hard to talk to them because they ask you questions — they don’t know any better. And it’s just hard to relate.”

To ease the transition process for these student veterans and other military-affiliated students, UNC-system administrators are focusing on attracting the state’s growing military population to its universities.

Administrators convened a working group last year known as UNC SERVES — Systemwide Evaluation and Recommendation for Veterans Education and Services.

The group presented a report to the UNC-system Board of Governors at its meeting last week, outlining several recommendations.

North Carolina already has the highest percentage of total active duty, National Guard and Reserve troops in the country on a per capita basis with almost 140,000 service members.

Troop growth at Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune is expected to contribute to a total economic impact of almost $26.3 billion in 2013, according to the report.

The admissions process for veterans begins with the transfer of credits, which can be a headache for students who have taken courses at multiple schools.

Lt. Col. Ken Ratashak, former professor of military science at NCSU, said it’s also difficult for students to receive credit for their experiences in the military.

A student might be fluent in Arabic but struggle to find a credit that would transfer, he said.

The board passed a motion last week instructing universities to work toward satisfying health or physical education requirements for military students.

But credit transfers might be the least of veterans’ worries once they enroll at a university.

Kimrey Rhinehardt, vice president for federal relations for the system, said the Post-9/11 GI Bill no longer reimburses veterans for amounts higher than the in-state tuition rate at public universities, meaning they must pay the difference in tuition rates if they’re out-of-state. The student could choose to attend a private institution and have a maximum cap of $17,500 in aid, she said.

“That Marine says, ‘Wow, I either come up with $8,000 to go to school at UNC-W or I go to Methodist (University), and I can have the full $17,500,’” Rhinehardt said.

Davis said NCSU has 50 Yellow Ribbon Program scholarships to help offset the tuition costs, though there’s not enough for all out-of-state veterans.

The UNC SERVES report encourages collaboration between system schools and the state’s community colleges to alleviate the challenges veterans face on campus, ranging from credit transfers to tuition costs.

The UNC-Wilmington Onslow Extension Site, a partnership between UNC-W, Coastal Carolina Community College and Camp Lejeune, is one program that offers degrees to military-affiliated students in the Jacksonville area.

Students complete general requirements at Coastal Carolina before applying to a degree program offered by UNC-W on Coastal Carolina’s campus.

Ashley Adamovage, program manager of the site, said admissions advisers work with the military-affiliated students to iron out the credit-transfer process.

The partnership between Coastal Carolina and UNC-W offers veterans a bachelor’s degree for less than $12,000, she said.

Other recommendations in the report include increasing applied research partnerships with the defense industry and establishing a system office at each military base in the state.

Davis, who is also president of the NCSU Student Veterans group, said veterans feel comfortable on campuses that restore the bonds of a military family.

“Mostly we’re just a group of friends, and we just create that atmosphere that we had in the military.”

Contact the State & National Editor at state@dailytarheel.com.