Bluefield College has been selected as a top military friendly school by Military Advanced Education & Transition (MAE&T).
Designed for service members and the commanders and officers who influence the educational decisions of military personnel, MAE&T is the leading journal of higher learning for the nation’s service members and veterans making the transition from military to the civilian sector. The MAE&T’s Guide to Military Friendly Colleges and Universities is a list featured annually in the magazine that measures best practices in military and veteran education in order to provide America’s men and women in uniform with the information they need to make the right choices about college.
“Our Guide is the most comprehensive research tool yet for service members, education services officers, and transition officers,” said Kelly Fodel, editor of MAE&T. “As the first publication to publish a list evaluating best practices in military education, MAE&T has been improving the process every year in order to provide our men and women in uniform information that will help them make the right choices about college.”
More than 600 schools — from community and private colleges to state universities, online universities and nationally known centers of higher learning — were evaluated for the distinguished list based on their military culture, financial aid, flexibility, general support, on-campus support, and online support services. Bluefield College was among the elite schools deemed a top military friendly school and listed in the MAE&T’s 2018 Guide to Military Friendly Colleges and Universities in print and online at mae-kmi.com.
The MAE&T’s Guide to Colleges and Universities “arms students with information about institutions that go out of their way to give back to our men and women in uniform,” said Fodel. With input from an advisory board of educational and government experts, and criteria based on recommendations from the Veterans Affairs and military services, the Guide, she said, “provides the foundational information a prospective student would use in framing his or her educational needs.”
The 2018 Guide, online at mae-kmi.com and in the print edition of the MAE&T’s December 2017 edition, provides the survey questions and answers provided by the schools, as well as explanations about critical issues like activation and deployment policies, withdrawal policies, scholarship and financial aid information, and important support information. It also gives detailed descriptions and program information from each institution to provide a comparison of military friendly schools for service members to find the best match for their needs
“While we realize that all schools are unique, we focus our annual survey on the best practices that make a true difference to service members and student veterans,” said Fodel. “These best practices have been asserted by various higher education groups and reinforced by veteran groups, and we consider our survey to be the most detailed and informative in the industry.”
In addition to the top military friendly distinction from Military Advanced Education & Transition, Bluefield College recently received a similar honor from Victory Media, a ratings and resources organization that provides service members and their families with the information they need to make decisions about civilian careers and education opportunities and rates colleges on how well they recruit and retain military veterans as students.
Bluefield College earned their distinction, Victory Media said, as a result of its commitment to provide “exceptional higher education and service to the men and women of our armed services.” Victory also noted the “convenience and flexibility” of BC online programs that are needed for students working full time, raising a family, or too busy to study in a traditional classroom. They also touted Bluefield’s “caring professors,” “competitive tuition rates,” and “generous financial aid specifically for veterans.”
Considered an industry leader in ratings for more than a decade, Victory Media surveys thousands of institutions and assembles lists that “capture best practices in recruitment and retention of military employees and students.” Their Military Friendly rankings have been published annually since 2003 in G.I. Jobs, Military Spouse and Vetrepreneur magazines.
As an added effort to prove its value to veterans and military personnel, Bluefield College recently partnered with Athletes of Valor to help demonstrate to military athletes who are interested in playing sports at the collegiate level the benefits of considering BC for that next phase in their life.
“Collegiate sport participation acts as a vehicle for successful transition, and we are excited to have Bluefield College,” said Alex Stone, former Marine and founder of Athletes of Valor, about the partnership with BC. “The academic and athletic opportunities at Bluefield are an incredible opportunity for a transitioning service member.”