Military Times Edgeranks Mississippi State University as the 20th best school for veterans out of more than 4,000 evaluated colleges and universities.
The criteria was based on programs, policies and resources offered to veterans at their institutions.
Some of the criteria include Veteran’s Day observance and the Reserve Officer’s Training Corps program.
Andrew Rendon, director of the Sonny Montgomery Center for America’s Veterans, said ranking nationally in the top 20 is quite a feat, but MSU still has work to do.
“We’re not going to rest on our laurels. There’s definitely things that we need to do here at Mississippi State to improve,” he said. “Mississippi State University has always been military/veteran friendly. The program coming along certainly has helped with that respect.”
Rendon said MSU has approximately 1,700 veterans, dependents of veterans, service members and survivors of veterans on campus, which amounts to roughly 10 percent of the school’s 18,600 enrolled students.
He said his organization is adequately staffed to handle the needs of student veterans.
The center partners with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Mississippi’s Veterans Affairs Board, Veterans of Foreign Wars and local military and veteran organizations, Rendon said.
It also partners with the Student Counseling Center to provide a support group for veterans, servicemen and families of veterans.
The group meets once a month for support on various topics.
“We’re hoping to build a substantial group that [students] can come take part [in],” Rendon said. “We’ve had our first meeting last month, and I would say 30 or 40 percent of the population was dependents/family members.”
Priority registration started last semester for veterans who are GI bill recipients, which is something a lot of military-friendly universities are doing, Rendon said.
The center also offers a scholarship program for veterans.
“Typically, these guys and gals will come to the university with a pretty good GI bill benefit and therefore their GI bill covers most costs. However, those that still have a financial need will use our scholarship program to help them,” Rendon said.
Major Tommy Cardone, professor of military science who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, said the program has a variety of senior veterans and servicemen who contribute, including a former staff sergeant in the army, Mississippi Guard members and relieved air force civilians.
One major goal of the Army ROTC program is to build leadership skills and turn students into future, ranking servicemen.
“An Army ROTC graduate is going to be well ahead of his peers because of the world class, leadership training they receive,” Cardone said.
Lewis Howard, president of the Student Veteran’s Association, said the Telling Project will be held during Veteran’s Day Awareness Week Nov. 12-14 in Lee Hall Auditorium.
“The whole point of the Telling Project is to open the community’s eyes toward our veterans and not see them as such outcasts,” Howard said. “What they’re doing is telling about their experiences and how they dealt with transitions from military life to civilian life, how they dealt with issues overseas, death of friends and loved ones [and] leaving family members.”
MSU participates in the VA-sponsored Yellow Ribbon program which lessens the costs of tuition for eligible participants, Rendon said.
In order to receive benefits each month, veterans have to confirm their enrollment status.
The Montgomery Center began offering web automated verification of enrollment to students a few years ago.
“Just like everything else that’s become online or automated, it does help [make] the process easier,” Rendon said.
He said MSU has a policy on withdrawals that provides students with several options, including a complete withdrawal from school and an incomplete withdrawal, allowing students to finish when they come back.
“It allows [students] some flexibility on making a decision on what they want to do if they are mobilized in support of some sort of deployment,” he said. “Our job […] is to explain and facilitate that student’s choice of the options that he decides to take.”
Howard said the Student Veterans Association is currently offering book stipends, organizing community service and dedicating monuments to veterans.