Serving military-connected students is a strategic imperative for higher education

Higher education is entering a period of significant demographic change. The long-anticipated decline in traditional college-aged students is now well-underway, forcing institutions to rethink where future students will come from. Among those audiences are the hundreds of thousands of military-connected learners — veterans, active-duty service members and their families.

This disconnect is striking given the deep and longstanding relationship between higher education and the military. From the original GI Bill, which helped expand and democratize American higher education, to today’s Post-9/11 GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon Program, the two systems have long been intertwined. 

Colleges and universities have helped prepare service members for civilian life, while military-affiliated students have brought maturity, leadership and purpose to campuses across the country. In many ways, this partnership has shaped both the modern military and the modern university system.

Despite this shared history, the relationship has not kept pace with today’s realities. Too often, institutions treat military learners as an administrative category rather than a critical population requiring intentional design — and support. If higher education is to meet the moment, it must move beyond processing benefits and toward building coordinated systems of support — ones that connect academic pathways, career outcomes and a genuine sense of belonging.

Increasingly, it’s become clear that military-connected learners cannot — and should not be — treated as a niche audience for higher education, and instead viewed as part of its core. There are now more than 800,000 active-duty, National Guard, reserve and veteran learners enrolled in college. VA education programs, meanwhile, benefit about 900,000 people each year. 

These learners include first-time students, working adults, parents and mid-career professionals. Many bring leadership experience, persistence and a strong sense of purpose to their education — all qualities any college would say it values in its student body. 

More than half of those serving say that educational benefits are a primary reason they chose to enter military service, just one-third have a bachelor’s degree. Nonetheless, institutions must treat military learners as a strategic priority, not a population in need of accommodation, which is a win-win for institutions and the country.

Yet institutional support for military-connected students is often narrow and fragmented. Military-connected learners often interact with higher education through systems not designed for them. They are more likely to enter college later in life, enroll part-time, transfer between institutions, or weave in and out of enrollment due to deployments, relocations, and work and family obligations. 

At many colleges, serving this population begins and ends with admissions and processing benefits paperwork. After that, students are largely left to navigate the institution independently unless they actively seek assistance. Benefits support is essential, but it is only the starting point. Military-connected students need an intentional approach that links financial support to academic advising, career guidance and a clear sense of belonging on campus. Without that coordination, too many struggle to persist, even when tuition is fully covered. 

Even when such support is available, military-connected students are typically expected to locate and access those resources on their own. Research on student veterans consistently shows wide variation in utilization of support services — suggesting that availability alone does not translate into meaningful engagement or persistence.

Some states and institutions are beginning to demonstrate how to approach this population differently.  At Golden Gate University, for example, support for military learners is built into the university’s broader student success model. The institution participates in the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon Program, a voluntary partnership in which colleges help cover tuition costs beyond what the GI Bill pays. 

But the university’s commitment to veterans goes beyond financial support. Golden Gate pairs benefits navigation with dedicated success coaching and a veterans center staffed by military veterans. The focus is not only on enrollment, but on helping students stay enrolled, complete their degrees and translate their education into meaningful careers.

Fordham University, meanwhile, has taken a similar approach. The university maintains a dedicated Office of Military and Veterans’ Services, supports an active Student Veterans of America chapter, and offers programming designed to help military-connected learners understand how their experience fits within academic and professional pathways. 

Because skills developed through service do not always map cleanly onto civilian job descriptions or academic expectations, Fordham’s model focuses on helping military learners articulate their experience, plan their coursework and prepare for life after graduation.

Both institutions share a refusal to treat military learners as an exception. Support is coordinated rather than piecemeal, and institutional responsibility does not end once benefits are approved.

State and federal policy and funding can also play a critical role. In Alabama, state leaders are working to create stronger education-to-career pathways for military veterans. The state legislature, for instance, recently advanced a bill to establish a faster route into the teaching profession for veterans. The program would allow eligible students with a minimum number of college credits to earn a temporary teaching certificate and begin working in classrooms sooner, with mentorship during their early years. 

The state also recently launched a statewide partnership with the mental health platform Uwill to provide veterans—whether they are students or not—with free teletherapy and 24/7 crisis support.

As colleges confront a demographic cliff and growing public skepticism toward higher education, they will need to be more deliberate about whom they serve and how they serve them. Military-connected learners represent a substantial, motivated population backed by significant public investment and a clear demand for postsecondary education.

Higher education should take that reality seriously. Military-connected learners neither want nor need charity. They need institutions that recognize them as a central part of the future of higher education.

Ruth Bauer is president at student success nonprofit InsideTrack. Chris Tilghman is CEO at MissionWise, which supports colleges and universities that enroll military-connected students.