Abstract
Student veterans have been attending college in greater numbers since the passing of the Post/9-11 GI Bill. Although similar to other nontraditional students, student veterans face unique transition challenges that can impact their pursuit of higher education. Many student veterans could benefit from dedicated programs to help them succeed in college, which in turn would enable them to secure employment in the civilian world. Facilitating the success of student veterans also makes wise use of the financial and institutional resources invested in their education. Peer support programs can help by providing an established community of other student veterans who can normalize transition experiences, offer social support, reduce stigma associated with help-seeking, and connect to useful services on and off campus. This paper describes the iterative development of a nationwide peer support program for student veterans, Peer Advisors for Education (PAVE), which uses trained peers to provide outreach, support, and linkage to resources to assist student veterans. Through a hybrid technology platform for training and program management, PAVE has been delivered on 40 college campuses nationwide and is well-positioned for larger scale national rollout.
Highlights
Student veterans have been attending college in greater numbers since the passing of the Post/911 GI Bill
The intent was for Peer Advisors to engage student veterans on campus, conduct outreach activities, provide peer support, and connect student veterans with needed resources to help them succeed on campus
The Management Console includes functionality that allows Veteran Services Coordinators (VSCs) and Team Leaders the ability to perform several key program tasks: securely upload student veteran information into the system and match them to Peer Advisors and Team Leaders; invite Peer Advisors and Team Leaders to begin the online training; review Peer Advisor outreach efforts and interactions with student veterans; communicate with Peer Advisors on their work and suggest additional resources; upload and update an online resource guide compiled by their team; and complete bi-weekly reports that are sent to the Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (PAVE) Team to review
Summary
The number of student veterans using these education benefits is expected to continue rising, given that the population of post-9/11 veterans is estimated to increase to more than five million by 2020 (U.S Government Accountability Office, 2013). Student veterans are in many ways nontraditional students (McBain, Kim, Cook, & Snead, 2012). Older than their traditional classmates, they tend to have greater maturity gained through full-time work and other life experiences. They may need to refresh their academic skills and adjust to new educational technologies. The transition into college may be difficult for female veterans, whose military and civilian experiences can differ markedly from those of their male colleagues (Burkhart & Hogan, 2015; DiRamio, Jarvis, Iverson, Seher, & Anderson, 2015)
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