Selective Liberal Arts Schools Begin to Recruit Veterans
Eduardo De La Torre has seen a lot in the years since he graduated from high school in 1999.
He went to Texas A&M--College Station until 9/11, when he dropped out to join the U.S. Army. As an airborne medic, he was deployed to help New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. He spent part of 2006 and 2007 in Iraq, taking part in the surge.
He always knew he'd go back to college -- it was a promise he'd made to his immigrant parents. He just didn't think he would do so with a wife and child at a small, notoriously progressive liberal arts college, surrounded by 19-year-olds, who are shocked to learn he's actually 33.
De La Torre isn't in some kind of movie or undercover documentary, though it can feel that way for him sometimes. He's part of The Posse Program at Vassar College, an initiative aimed at getting more veterans to the selective Hudson Valley campus. The program, now in its second year, selects about 10 veterans to enroll each year, tuition free.
By enrolling students in groups, or "posses," school officials hope to make veterans feel more at home on campus.
"I thought I could never go back to school in a traditional setting, but for me to come to Vassar with the cohort allows me to feel some sort of comfort level on campus," says De La Torre, a sophomore majoring in a multidisciplinary field the school calls science, technology and society.
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To support veteran enrollment and success, Vassar partners with The Posse Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps selective colleges enroll a more diverse student body. Wesleyan University was the second school to partner with Posse's veterans program, admitting 10 veterans in 2014-2015. Deborah Bial, president of the foundation, says more liberal arts schools have expressed their interest in joining.
"I hope that we get to 10 or 12 partner schools for this program within the next couple of years," she says.
The Posse Foundation's veterans project was actually the brain child of Vassar President Catharine Hill, who was concerned by the fact that veterans weren't being well-represented on her campus and others like it.
"We really value having a diverse student body," she says. "If you are recruiting students who all have the same backgrounds and the same experiences, the richness of what takes place both inside and outside of the classroom is less."
Hill felt that schools like hers had a duty to start bringing veterans to campus, since society at large is benefiting from their service. Former members of the military who come to schools like Vassar have a much better chance of graduating than they do if they enroll in for-profit schools or community colleges, she says.
[Consider the pros and cons of online education as a veteran.]
Veterans interested in joining the program at Vassar and Wesleyan must first apply to The Posse Foundation, which in turn recommends 20 candidates to each school. As schools seek to narrow the pool to 10 students, they look beyond high school GPA and standardized test scores to consider an applicant's leadership abilities, communication skills and life experience, says Wesleyan President Michael Roth.
"Clearly the folks who come through the Posse process don't have the typical high school records that get you into Wesleyan or Vassar," he says, adding that the program "brings mature and talented people from different walks of life."
The program at both schools is open to men and women who have been on active military duty after 9/11, including married veterans and those with families. Single veterans usually end up living in the dorms, and the schools work with families to live off campus, officials say. The program covers complete tuition, though students might be responsible for their housing costs if they live off campus.
Students in the program are required to attend a monthlong training session before starting classes and meet weekly with their fellow Posse members for academic and social support.
Although De La Torre says it's been great to have fellow veterans around, he doesn't go out much these days, since he has a 17-month-old to take care of. He interacts with his traditional classmates as well, but usually only for study groups, he says. So far, his favorite class has been a freshman writing class called Sex Before, During, and After the Nazis.
"Most of their social circles are around dinner and lunch, and I'm not in that social circle, so they'll call me and say, 'Hey, we are going to study at this time,'" says De La Torre.
[Discover why veterans face challenges at college.]
While he has had to field the occasional inappropriate question -- he once had to tell a lab partner that people shouldn't ask veterans if they've killed someone -- De La Torre says he's found his classmates to be incredibly friendly.
"The great thing about being at a place like Vassar is that even though they are very liberal, they are very open minded," he says. "They are very curious about you and your experiences."
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Devon Haynie is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering online education. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dhaynie@usnews.com.
