Abstract
Since at least the 1940’s, the United States military veterans have received assistance by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in attaining a college degree. Along with the support from the VA, institutions such as California State University, Sacramento, (CSUS) and various locations have set in place veteran centers designed to assist veterans in their academic journey. Aside from institutional support, family support, peer support, faculty support, and other external support may play an important role in veteran academic success. Despite what may seem to be a strong support system, the graduation rates of student veterans have been in decline since the 1990’s. This study sought to explore the experiences student veterans have at CSUS within their personal and external support system and resources. The participants were five student veterans who were attending CSUS at the time of this study. The theoretical approach to this study was an ecological approach that seeks to understand the relationship between an individual’s support system within the micro, mezzo and macro domains. The approach to this study was a case study that used open-ended questions about demographics, academic history, finance, campus experience, campus services, and external services. The research questions were 1) What are the self-identified barriers to veteran academic success, 2) What are the most important administrative and strategic planning needs for veterans, 3) What are the needs in terms of advising and career services, and 4) What services would be important that could be provided by the veteran’s office on campus? From the analysis, five themes emerged: personal and interpersonal factors, importance of priority registration, connectedness with non-veteran/veteran peers and faculty, peer networking, and the perceptions of services and resources in academic success. The recommendations included improving assistance for student veterans to network and having a dedicated counselor to assist in navigating benefits and resources. Recommendations for future research included exploring the needs of veteran families to better support their student veterans and creation of surveys and/or focus groups to determine the best approaches to connecting veterans with each other.