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Active Duty and Veteran Pathways to Engineering Higher Education

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Military and Veterans Division (MVD) Technical Session 1

Tagged Division

Military and Veterans Division (MVD)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42560

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/42560

Download Count

235

Paper Authors

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Robert J. Rabb, P.E. Pennsylvania State University

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Alyson Grace Eggleston Pennsylvania State University

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Alyson Eggleston is an Associate Professor in the Penn State Hershey College of Medicine and Director of Evaluation for the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Her research and teaching background focuses on program assessment, STEM technical communication, industry-informed curricula, and educational outcomes veteran and active duty students.

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Ronald W. Welch The Citadel

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Ron Welch (P.E.) received his B.S. degree in Engineering Mechanics from the United States Military Academy in 1982. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1990 and 1999, respectively. He taught at The United States Military Academy during his 25 year military career. After retiring form the military he has taught at the University of Texas at Tyler and The Citadel, where he was the Dean of Engineering for 10 years.

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Abstract

The number of veteran enrollments in American colleges and universities is at a level not seen since the Vietnam War era. Most of these veterans use the Post-9/11 GI Bill, an educational assistance plan for eligible veterans, but many more programs are available to veterans and active duty military members. This paper presents an overview of many of these education assistance programs available to this growing population. With no end date for the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the demand for engineering degrees in an increasingly technical job market, large numbers of veterans will continue to enroll in higher education institutions. Likewise, active duty military members will be part of the engineering education landscape to support the current demand for technical expertise in the military. Every student has different needs and challenges, and all still need information and access to resources that will help them succeed and link them to the campus community, so that they feel more fully part of the learning environment and can meet their educational goals. A continuous stream of student veteran and active duty populations requires higher education faculty, advisers, staff, and administrators to both understand their strengths and challenges, to include their funding pathways for an engineering education.

Scholarships and grants provide a pathway and can ease the financial burden for many students. Similarly, the educational benefits earned by the veterans and active duty military members provide great opportunities but have limitations and different applications. This paper attempts to highlight some of the major educational benefit programs available to veterans and active duty military members and inform those who interact and advise with this population.

Rabb,, R. J., & Eggleston, A. G., & Welch, R. W. (2023, June), Active Duty and Veteran Pathways to Engineering Higher Education Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42560

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