Gulf Coast State College named in top Military Friendly School list for 2022-2023. Here's what that means
PANAMA CITY — Gulf Coast State College has been named a top "Military Friendly" school for 2022-2023.
The Military Friendly Schools list recognizes the top 20 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that do the most to embrace America's armed service members, veterans and spouses as students and to ensure their success on campus.
This is the eighth year GCSC has received the designation. This year, the college reached gold status. Gold award winners have programs that scored within 10% of the 10th-ranking school in their category, according to the Military Friendly Schools website.
"One of the benefits of living in a democracy and free society is the ability for everyone to get an education," said Glen McDonald, GCSC's vice president of Strategic Projects & Economic Development. "It's our honor to provide that ability for military students and their families and their children at Gulf Coast because they are providing our freedom and our ability to have an education."
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Each year schools complete surveys according to ratings based on six categories: academic policies and compliance, military student support and retention, graduation and career outcomes, financial aid and loan repayment, culture and commitment and admissions and orientation.
In addition, institutions earning the Military Friendly designation were evaluated, and the awards are sourced from three categories: public data sources, proprietary data from annual surveys and personal data from surveys of veterans.
Jason Hedden, executive director of Recruitment and Community Relations at GCSC, said the school is committed to catering to veterans and active military students through academics and leisure.
"In the student union, we have an office dedicated to our veteran services and we're in the process of building a designated resource center for our military," Hedden said. "We also have flexible course offerings and an education center on Tyndall Air Force Base."
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More than 1,800 colleges, universities and trade schools participated in the 2022-2023 survey, and 665 earned gold, silver and bronze status by Viqtory Media, a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business.
Looking into the future, McDonald said he expects its military community will continue to grow as new military-friendly developments progress within the community and the college.
"Within the next five to seven years, we're expecting a greater amount of retirees and active military to continue their education, and as those numbers grow, our services will grow with them," McDonald said.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Gulf Coast State College makes Military Friendly® Schools list
