Ramapo College Recognized for Commitment to Vets

Photo by Rebecca King

Ramapo College has recently been nationally recognized for its commitment to veterans. Victory Media, a publication that focuses on the military transition to civilian life, has awarded Ramapo with the 2016 Military Friendly School designation. Victory has been giving out this designation for the past seven years. According to Victory, “[the] Military Friendly Schools designation provides service members and their families with transparent, data driven ratings about post-military education and career opportunities.”

“Ramapo College is extremely proud of our designation by Victory Media,” the Acting Dean of Students Dr. David Nast said, commenting on the school's feelings about the designation. “The 2016 Military Friendly Schools list honors a select group of colleges, universities and trade schools that embrace America’s military service members, veterans and spouses as students and promote their success on campus.”

Nast also mentions Ramapo’s past in regards to its service to veterans.

“Ramapo College has been noted for maintaining a dedicated staff and faculty who work with veterans one on one to help smoothly transition back to school,” Nast said.

There is a dedicated office in Financial Aid that covers veterans' affairs. Also, the Office of Student Life is a point of contact for the College's veteran students. If there is a need in the School of Humanities and Global Studies, associate professor Jeremy Teigen is available to answer any veteran’s course and major concerns. The school also offers tutoring services at the Center for Reading and Writing. Ramon Reyes, the school's developmental writing specialist, is the official veteran’s point of contact for that program.

“Ramapo has been noted in the past by Victory Media for its services to veterans that include reasonable transfer of credits, financial benefits, veterans' clubs, credits for military training, nationally recognized testing programs, flexible class schedules and membership in the Service Members Opportunities Colleges,” said Nast.

With Veterans Day this past Wednesday, students were asked how they felt about the new designation. Senior Paul Grunert, 22, a student of history at Ramapo who is currently enrolled in “Advanced Military History” commented that he thinks the school could do more for veterans.

“While I am not a veteran myself, I have really hardly seen anything that is geared towards veterans. I believe that one time there was a veterans' affairs office, but where has that gone?” Grunert said.

Senior Kevin Hoffman, 21, a film student at the College, disagrees.

“The student body at this college is so diverse. I imagine that assimilating into the world after an ordeal such as war would be hard enough if there wasn’t the clubs and programs that Ramapo offers to help veterans transition into student life,” Hoffman said.

acastil1@ramapo.edu