Resources Help UNR Student Veterans who Served Overseas
The University of Nevada, Reno Veteran Services assist student Veterans through financial, personal and other means.
Worrying about paying bills and balancing classwork with life is already a challenge, but a loud noise or a chair in the way of a door can have a major affect on a student veteran.
For veterans who were deployed overseas and now back home, the transition process to civilian life can be difficult on its own. However, the University of Nevada, Reno provides multiple different resources and supports for veterans that have transitioned to student life.
The University of Nevada Veteran Services is designed to meet the needs of veterans depending on what they need. In addition to veterans having access to resources all students have, they are also financial resources and educational programs to help faculty and staff connect with student veterans.
For Vince Rivera, Intake Coordinator at Veteran Services, his main goal is to assist student veterans in getting the most out of their time at the University.
“Our goal is to ensure our student veterans come to the university and have a fulfilling experience, learn personal and professional skills to graduate and move onto something else,” Rivera said.
A major focus of Rivera’s work is aiding veterans coming to the University that might not have the same help that other students had before coming to the University.
“A lot of our student veterans are either coming as transfer students or non-traditional students so they don’t do our Nevadafits,” Rivera said. “So I have to make sure that they know the classroom isn’t the only spot for you.”
What Resources Are There?
The main resources for student veterans comes from the G.I. Bill and Veterans Affairs educational benefits. These pay for a student veteran’s tuition as long as the classes are going towards a degree. Other resources provide monthly stipends, scholarships and more depending on a student veteran’s needs.
Outside of financial means, other resources provide student veterans support groups and communities to connect with. President of Wolf Pack Veterans A’Keia Sanders found some difficulty at first connecting with students until she found the resources she needed.
“I think the the hardest part for me in the beginning was finding like that group that you fit with because I’m a bit older,” Sanders said “so when I got in touch with Veteran Services and just been able to come out here, hang out and bound over stuff that we have more in common.”
New Initiatives to Change the Conversation on Student Veterans
A new initiative getting traction is the VetSmart program, which hopes to connect university faculty and staff to understand student veterans needs. The programs range from accessibility needs for veterans to explaining to staff why student veterans may need more leniency in the classroom.
“Sometimes student veterans are going to miss classes and a traditional student coming from the residence hall to here doesn’t have to deal with VA hospital visits where if you miss your visit you might not get another one for another year and a half which also means you might lose your disability rating so that’s more important than going to class that day,” Rivera said.
While the VetSmart program is a step in the right direction, from experience more work needs to be done in regards to staff understanding different experiences of veterans.
“I’ve had issues with going to get help with teachers and them not being able to meet my needs. And I don’t know if that’s a maybe a generational thing because they’re used to possibly talking to 19 year olds that maybe a little bit quicker versus someone like myself that has left school and come back to school. I’ve been deterred from going to certain like places to get help because I don’t feel like it helps,” Sanders said.
How Student Veterans Process Their Identity
A major discussion on student veterans is on their identity and how they view themselves. Some see themselves as veterans while others want to focus on the future and not on their previous experiences.
“I’m one of those veterans that are just like I don’t want you to be different. I just want to get my degree and I want you to know me as like a dietitian. And then if I decide to tell you that I have this background then that’s cool,” Sanders said.
Rivera hopes that veterans understand the resources available to them and that they do not even need to identify as a student veteran to take advantage of them.
“We would love every student veteran to say hey ok let me go use these resources but at the same time we’re not going to hold that as a detriment if you decide you want to do your time without identifying yourself as a student veteran,” Rivera said.
