Military veterans are an immediately emerging populace of non-traditional students in the United States. In August 2009 the new Post-9/11 G.I. Bill became effective and has made it accessible for veterans to subsidize their higher education costs upon departing from the military. Customary four-year universities and colleges are appropriately…

Thanks to the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, veterans are entering American colleges and universities in numbers not seen since World War II. Very few of today's veterans, however, attend our nation's most selective institutions. Military-connected students constitute about 5% of the total college-going population, but make up only 2% or less of the student…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to first consider how veterans use talk to shape interpretations of personal and social identity. Second, this paper seeks to gain an understanding of how veterans see themselves in a civilian world, their ability to re-conceptualise and realign their perspective on life to support their transition in to a…

This study investigates the leadership tenets informing veterans' work as school leaders. Drawing on 15 interviews and surveys with military veterans working as educational leaders, the study relies on Stake's (2006) case study method to substantiate assertions that veterans: 1) come into education without the support of a transitional program, 2)…

While qualitative researchers increasingly accept online video interviews as a reliable method, many maintain concerns about rapport and data quality. Drawing on two separate interview projects conducted in private in-person settings, public in-person settings, and privately via Skype, we compare interview contexts with regard to rapport,…

This study examined the college choice process of transfer student veterans who are currently enrolled in a public research university. The research presented in this dissertation utilized both quantitative and qualitative strategies to identify key factors in students' college choice process. This study focuses on the following two research…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the essence of the experiences of combat veterans with significant combat exposure who successfully completed their bachelor's degree through a private online program despite the presence of challenges related and unrelated to their combat exposure. For the purpose of this…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experience of "discontinued enrollment" for military veteran students at western Virginia community colleges. The theory guiding this study was Schlossberg's (1981) transition theory, as the military veteran students were in transition from the military to the community…

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of female student veterans with disabilities entering higher education during reintegration in order to improve programs, services, and support available to female student veterans with disabilities. A screening questionnaire,…

Purpose: Apprenticeships in the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, which operate under the United Services Military Apprenticeship Program (USMAP), now account for about 20 percent of all registered apprentices in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to draw on interviews and focus groups to examine the strengths and limitations of USMAP,…

In this interpretative phenomenological study, the implicit cultural values and expectations embedded in faculty/staff's perceptions and how they functioned as a hidden curriculum against student veterans' smooth transition into higher education were analyzed based on in-depth interviews with 20 student veterans and 9 faculty/staff members. By…

Police organizations routinely train their officers on the use of deadly force policy and procedures. The topic addressed in this study is that deadly force policy training may be inadequate in combining policy along with discretion in shoot or no shoot situations often resulting in improper use of deadly force. The problem is the training that…

The purpose of this study is to examine the academic experiences of veterans attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Following World War II, enrollment at HBCUs was as high as 35%. Broader access at traditional colleges and the proliferation of for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs) have led to a decline in African…

Educational institutions offer transformative opportunities for veterans transitioning from military service. Veteran-specific cultural supports in educational environments offer participation in occupations and development of skills needed to complete educational goals. However, veterans experience complex life circumstances atypical from…

Persistence as it pertained to traditional college students had been widely researched, but little was known about persistence and the role of resilience and engagement for veteran students experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder while enrolled in online degree programs. The focus of the study was to understand the lived experiences of veteran…