Since the passage of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the enrollment of active-duty service members and veterans in American colleges and universities has increased substantially. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than three-quarters of a million veterans have used their earned benefit to enroll in postsecondary courses. In response to the influx of veteran student enrollment, a group of higher education associations and veterans' organizations collaborated in 2009 and 2012 on a study that asked college and university administrators whether their institutions had geared up campus programs and services specifically designed to support the unique needs of veterans.1 The results indicated that administrators had indeed increased support levels, sometimes by quite significant margins.

But how do student veterans/service members perceive their experiences at higher education institutions? To date, there is little or no information to assess whether the efforts by institutions to provide targeted programs and services are helpful to the veterans and service members enrolled in colleges and universities. Similarly, not much is known about the transition to postsecondary education from military service experienced by student veterans/service members, or whether these students are engaged in both academic programs and college and university life to their fullest potential. In this context, this issue brief explores student veteran/service member engagement in postsecondary education. The brief utilizes data from the 2012 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), an annual survey of students enrolled in four-year universities, to assess how student veterans/service members perceive their integration on campus.

A key finding is that student veterans/servicemembers are selective about the campus life and academic activities in which they invest their time. Student veterans/service members are morelikely to be first-generation students -- the first in their families to attend a college or university -- and older than nonveteran/civilian students; they therefore tend to have responsibilities outside of higher education that put constraints on their time.

Student veterans/service members report placing greater emphasis on academic areas that they find essential for academic progress than on college and university life and activities -- academic or otherwise -- that are not essential for success in the courses in which they are enrolled. Student veterans/ service members are less likely to participate in co curricular activities, and they dedicate less time to relaxing and socializing than nonveteran/ civilian students.

Recent calls for increases in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education attainment and veterans' education success have created a platform for examining how veterans with military experience in STEM fields can more efficiently complete postsecondary education and training.

The American Council on Education (ACE) military evaluation program provides credit recommendations for military courses that align servicemembers' training with postsecondary curricula and competencies. These recommendations,
if accepted as transfer credit, can decrease the time it takes servicemembers and veterans to complete STEM certificates and degrees.

Numerous challenges exist in considering military credit recommendations for postsecondary courses and degrees. The process is complex, requiring an acute understanding of military transcripts and the resources and tools available to assist institutions of higher education in awarding credit for military training. Additionally, misinformation and lack of awareness regarding the content, scope, and rigor of the ACE review process and resulting credit recommendations create resistance to awarding credit.

Successfully increasing acceptance of military credit recommendations at institutions of higher education can be achieved
through public-private partnerships between colleges and universities, federal agencies, workforce development experts, and other key stakeholders using available resources and tools to build degree pathways that accurately map military training to STEM courses.

An education campaign about the ACE review process and the value of the resulting credit recommendations will also help eliminate the stigma surrounding credit awarded for prior learning, and boost support among leaders and institutions for increased acceptance of military credit recommendations. This approach will lead to the developmentof best practices and, ultimately, increases in both STEM attainment and veterans' education success.

Federal education benefits for veterans represent a substantial investment -- $18 billion since 2009 under the Post-9/11 GI Bill -- in the development of a skilled American workforce. Unfortunately, this investment does not always pay off because many veterans encounter serious obstacles as they attempt to navigate the difficult terrain of the higher education system and the labor market. Access to career and education advising programs would enable more veterans to successfully complete degrees and to pursue satisfying careers.

This paper surveys the career and education advising options currently available to veterans via military reintegration programs, web-based resources, non-profit service providers, and colleges and universities. It concludes that additionalm career and education advising resources are needed -- especially those available to veterans prior to enrollment in postsecondary institutions -- to ensure that veterans are able to take full advantage of their federal education benefits. This paper offers specific recommendations for helping veterans make informed choices about how to use their education benefits at each stage of the transition process.

A classic "new growth" state, Georgia has experienced one of the fastest rates of growth from immigration in the United States over the past two decades. Today, one in five Georgia youth is an immigrant or has immigrant parents. While Georgia's native-born white population is aging rapidly, the Latino population in particular remains much younger, and stands to play a decisive role in the state's current and future workforce competitiveness.

The educational outcomes of the state's first- and second-generation young adults are cause for concern, however. Many are English Language Learners (ELLs) and they lag considerably behind their nonimmigrant peers in terms of high school graduation, college access, and postsecondary degree completion. they often face extra hurdles as they seek to develop academic English-language skills, complete high school course requirements, navigate the transition to college and careers, and finance postsecondary education-often while juggling work and family responsibilities. This report explores these hurdles, and shows that Georgia's most recent education reform efforts- while ambitious in scope-often do not address the unique needs of immigrant youth and ELLs. Moreover, state policies have created barriers to entry into the state's adult education programs and flagship universities, not just for unauthorized immigrants but also for youth who are granted legal permission to remain in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

As part of a five-state series, this report examines the educational experiences and outcomes of first- and second-generation youth ages 16 to 26 across the education systems in Georgia, encompassing K-12, adult education, and postsecondary education.