Supporting Military Veterans in Australian Higher Education

Abstract

Veterans often face difficulties during the transition from military to civilian life, with relatively high unemployment rates and mental health risks. Higher education represents an important pathway to navigate this transition successfully. Research from the United States shows that veterans bring unique strengths to the classroom, but also face specific challenges and barriers in accessing higher education. In Australia, military veterans have been largely invisible in the higher education sector. There is little national evidence on their access, success, and graduate outcomes. To begin to address this gap, we conducted a national survey of 240 student veterans who had enrolled in Australian higher education. In this article, we outline the barriers participants faced in accessing and transitioning to higher education, and their subsequent experiences at university. We provide recommendations to help universities develop more effective programs and policies to promote the success of student veterans.

Staying the Course: Strategies for Australian Student Veterans in Transition

“…A related consideration is the issue of self-identification as a veteran. Research shows that veterans can be reluctant to disclose their veteran status due to fear of being stigmatised and stereotyped (Andrewartha & Harvey, 2019;Elliott et al, 2011). We found that one university prefers to ask if a person is a current or former member of the ADF (rather than a veteran).…”

“…A common consideration in the research is that student veterans can be hesitant to disclose their veteran status. This reluctance can be partly attributed to a lack of clear benefits of disclosure, but also due to mistrust and misalignment with political culture on campus, and fear of being stigmatised, treated "differently," and falling subject to stereotyping (Andrewartha & Harvey, 2019;Elliott et al, 2011).…”

“…Higher education plays an important role in civilian acculturation and can positively impact veterans' prospects in society (Andrewartha & Harvey, 2019;Jones, 2013). However, the difficulties associated with transition prove to be a major obstacle to degree attainment among student veterans (Ackerman et al, 2009;Blackwell-Starnes, 2018;DiRamio et al, 2008;Schiavone & Gentry, 2014;Vacchi & Berger, 2014).…”

“…Veterans' decisions to enter higher education are purposeful, and they may feel detached from traditional-aged students who might lack the same psychological readiness and levels of independence (Vacchi, 2012). Research has found that student veterans can perceive higher education as an anti-military environment, where students and staff members hold predominantly liberal and left-wing political perspectives and worldviews that might differ from their own (Andrewartha & Harvey, 2019;Osborne, 2014). In research by Harvey et al (2018), student veterans reported that higher education institutions were "very left wing and full of political correctness" and mostly comprised students "who haven't served, and haven't seen the world, [and] hold very immature viewpoints" (p. 26).…”

The State of Research in Veterans Studies: A Systematic Literature Review

“…By utilizing NVivo's word frequency query search, three topics emanate from the theme of student veterans as observed in JVS articles. They are student veteran transition experiences from military to civilian and becoming student veterans (Andrewartha & Harvey, 2019;Bodrog et al, 2018;Boettcher et al, 2017;Jenner, 2017;McMenamin, 2016;Mendez et al, 2018;Petri et al, 2016;Phillips, 2016;Pollak et al, 2019;Young, 2017), conditions surrounding student veteran academic success (Bagby et al, 2019;Blackwell-Starnes, 2018;Cipher et al, 2018;Flatt & Rhodes, 2019;Garrity, 2017;Hembrough, 2017;Hembrough et al, 2018;Spencer, 2016), and issues surrounding accommodations needed by student veterans (Flink, 2017;Kranke et al, 2017;Morris et al, 2019;Wild & Mahapatra, 2018).…”