When Andrew Reeves came to UNC, he had already served deployments in Iraq and Europe for the Marine Corps. He served for 12 years and then decided to take two years off before attending college.
Now, Reeves is majoring in political science and begins a full-time job for Stanley Black & Decker, a fortune 500 manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware.
He’s one of more than 450 military-affiliated students at UNC—a small number compared to the 29,000 total students at UNC. Many student veterans served in the past and others are currently serving. Reeves said veteran students are unique—because of their age and military background.
“The experiences are much different than someone who went straight from high school to college,” Reeves said.
Nationally, the numbers are similar. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, more than one million veterans and their family members have attended college since the passing of the GI bill. The updated federal veterans law was passed in 2008 and pays in-state tuition rates and fees and provides stipends for books, housing and other supplies.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were about 18 million college undergraduates in the United States in 2012. Four percent of those students were military-affiliated—that’s about 720,000 students.
However, Reeves said veterans still face plenty of obstacles when coming to college. Some of these challenges can include a lack of understanding between student veterans and traditional students or even the age gap that often exists.
Micaela Pena is another student veteran at UNC. She was in the Air Force for seven years and was still on active duty when she started at UNC in the fall of 2015. She said she understands why the transition can be tough for students like herself.
“It was definitely hard,” Pena said. “It was rough coming from a job that you knew and you’ve had so much experience from to transitioning into something that you weren’t used to, you know being in academics and having to do the homework or anything like that.”
Amber Mathwig, the Student Veterans Assistant Coordinator at UNC, said “College is created to transition people into adults. Military personnel are usually already adults; they are back on campus in an environment that isn’t built for them. Similar to adult students—different priorities, family obligations and their interests are different.”
About 85 percent of veterans and active duty members enrolled in undergraduate programs are 24 years of age or older. Approximately half of those students have families, including a spouse, children or both.
But age is only a number. Mathwig said sometimes the stigma associated with veterans creates a more difficult challenge for student veterans than their age does.
“The stigma is that military students are always damaged and that they are always going to be a problem because of it,” Mathwig said. “We want the student not to be a part of that stigma.”
At UNC, the Carolina Veterans Organization is working to eliminate that stigma and bridge the gap between student veterans and traditional students. The group has hosted events like ‘Vets with Pets,’ and ‘Coffee with a Vet,’ to introduce student veterans to the rest of the student body.
But the road to navigating the transition continues. Reeves said it’s important for students to avoid placing all military personnel in the same ‘box.’
“Although we are different as far as experiences and we are relatively older than most students, we still encompass a very diverse group of people,” Reeves said. “We face the same academic rigor as traditional students; we both get kicked in the teeth by UNC’s academic work load the same.”
