Student Veterans are growing in number on college campuses. Over 660,000 undergraduate students are Veterans, constituting about 3% of all undergraduates and approximately another 215,000 undergraduate students are military Service Members on active duty or in the reserves, constituting about 1% of all undergraduates. Supporting our student Veterans in successfully completing their studies is more important than ever. Review the section below to learn more about the student Veteran population.

• 73% of student Veterans are male; 27% are female.
• With only 10-12% of military personnel being women, female student Veterans are over represented in postsecondary education.
  • Who Are Today's Women Veterans? (Handout)
  • Listen to Stories of Service: Women in the U.S. Military
  • From Combat to Kentucky (C2Ky)
    C2Ky is an ongoing oral history project that documents Kentucky's student veterans and their individual experiences during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Interviews will focus on each veteran’s military experience as well as their transition back into civilian life, particularly into higher education.
• Only 15% of student Veterans are traditionally aged college students (18-23).
• 31.4% are between the ages of 24 and 29.
• 28.2% are between the ages of 30 and 39.
• 24.9% are 40 or older.
• 47% of student Veterans have children.
• 47.3% of student Veterans are married.
• Only 35.3% are unmarried and without dependents.

• Characteristics of Student Veterans (Handout)

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Increasing numbers of military Service Members are using GI (Government Issued) education benefits for postsecondary education. The most common, and generous GI benefit is the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Over 300,000 current and former Service Members are using the Post-9/11 GI educational benefits.

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Most student Veterans are enrolled in public 2-year (43.3%) and 4-year institutions (21.4%). Almost an equal number of student Veterans are enrolled in private not-for-profit schools (13.5%) and private for-profit schools (12.4%).

• Who Are Today's Service Members? (Handout)

Resources for More Information

National Center for Veterans analysis and statistics (2011)
http://www.va.gov/vetdata/

American Council on Education
http://www.acenet.edu/higher-education/Pages/Military-Students-and-Veterans.aspx*

RAND
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1083.html*