Some vets struggling with life on campus
Some vets struggling with life on campus

By The Associated Press Comments 1
Published: July 23, 2008

Returing home after three tours of duty in Afghanistan, Derek Blumke was eager to return to college classes.

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What's being done

About 250,000 veterans are attending colleges and universities on the GI Bill, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. There are no firm statistics on the number attending without the GI Bill.

At Michigan, Blumke — now president of a national group, the Student Veterans of America — said the university recently appointed a single point person to answer questions. He recommends that other schools set up veterans councils — groups of student veterans who can help identify the problems.

Many veterans have banded together to help each other navigate their schools.

Dr. John Greden, director of the University of Michigan's Depression Center, said he hopes to set up pilot sites at other campuses to test ideas ranging from mobile counseling units to training veteran peer counselors.

But the Air Force veteran felt unwelcome at the University of Michigan as he tried alone to manage the transition from warrior to student.

During one of his initial calls to the school, school employees told him they couldn't answer his questions because he wasn't yet a student. Later, he found himself wandering around the Ann Arbor campus, trying to figure out how to use his military benefits to pay tuition and feeling like no one would help.

"I was frustrated and angry and disappointed,” said Blumke, 26, a former gunship maintenance supervisor who's now a senior studying political science and psychology at Michigan. "That frustration and anger turned into motivation. You don't want me here? OK, fine. I WILL come here.”

The challenges they find

As veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq return to campus, many are finding that colleges and universities are only beginning to figure out how to help them transition back to civilian, social and academic life.

Many need help with paperwork to enter classes.

Others seek emotional and psychological support.

And some struggle to fit in with classmates who are often much younger.

"Obviously, nobody goes to combat and comes back the same person,” said Bob Wallace, director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a Marine veteran of Vietnam.

With more people returning from conflict than at any time since the Vietnam War — along with a new, more generous GI Bill — the number of college-bound veterans is expected to swell.