Saint Leo University has been recognized as one of the 2018 Top Military Friendly Online Colleges and ranked No. 16 on the list of 2018 Most Affordable Military Friendly Online Colleges.
Saint Leo has a long history supporting the military.
“We at Saint Leo started working with educating military [workers]and military family members back in 1973, so we have a very proud history of working with military and supporting their educational needs,” commented Pamela Martis, Associate Vice President of Military Affairs and Services.
Martis added that the University has many staff who have a military background. These include director of military services, who is a retired Master Sergeant Air Force, student veterans who work in Saint Leo offices to name a few. Martis herself has a military background, being retired Army Colonel.
The list of Top Military Friendly Online Colleges consists of 60 online colleges who meet the SR Education Group requirements.
“These accredited schools provide strong military communities and support networks for their online students as well as exceptional financial assistance and flexibility,” states Guide to Online Schools, which is where this list can be found.
Martis mentioned that Saint Leo currently has online centers in over seven states and that Saint Leo was one of the first universities in 1997 that began support for military affiliated and active military online education. She says there is an estimated 4,800 to 5,000 military students currently attending the university’s online centers.
These numbers include student veterans, active military and Government Issued Bill benefit users, which occasionally includes military spouses or other military family members. Military members earn a G.I. Bill through their service to their country which is used for educational benefits.
Saint Leo University’s annual online tuition for military students is an estimate of $10,800, making the university a perfect candidate as the list was made up of colleges with online tuition rates under $12,270. Saint Leo also has a military scholarship program and military excellence fund. There are several targeted scholarships for military students, student veterans and military spouses.
Saint Leo also received a Military Friendly Score of 73.17; the score was calculated using the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs GI Bill Comparison Tool.
“We evaluate schools on four factors: military culture, online support, financial aid and flexibility. Schools that made the 2018 Top Military-Friendly Online Colleges list encompass all these factors that greatly benefit military students,” explained Kelsey D’Ewart, SR Education Group Representative and online education research publisher. “SLU’s commitment to these factors can help them be recognized by potential students as a great option to pursue their education.”
D’Ewart also mentioned that there were over 500 schools researched when making the military friendly lists.
There are many military affiliated students, staff and faculty on campus creating an even stronger military community.
“Saint Leo is honored to support their military service members, their families and those who have served. It is considered an honor,” commented Martis. “If you look at our core values here at Saint Leo, they align up really well with the core values of all of the military services. So, for many military students they look at Saint Leo and are drawn to those [core values]because it is a little bit of familiarity to the.
“Military students have the option to take an online course, evening classes, hybrid classes or an eight-week semester instead of a full 16-week semester when enrolling at a Saint Leo center. This flexibility helps military students as a large portion of them are older and also work full time jobs, and have a family to support,” concluded Martis.
There is an hour of orientation when a military student begins at an online center in order to educate the new student about what resources are available to them such as the office of accessibility services, the library and the office of military services.
The office of accessibilities services is available to help student veterans who may need extra help coming out of the transition of military life to civilian life. They also assist with service related evaluations and or additional assistance from the veteran’s affairs (V.A.).
Saint Leo also has student advisors and councelors that are familiar with the military who can assist in translating resumes and help military students reach out to campus who may need additional counseling concerning how to use their benefits properly.
There are school officials whose sole function is to help process military students’ benefits through the federal government and V.A. in order to make it easier for the student veteran.
Professors are also made aware when they have active military students. This allows for an understanding if the student is deployed before they are able to finish their semester. Should this situation arise, Saint Leo would work with the V.A. for exceptions, so the military student wouldn’t lose their benefits and have the option to retake the course at a later time.
Martis adds that Saint Leo University also holds pride in being one of the few universities in Florida that belong to Student Veterans of America Chapter. There are only 1,500 chapters across the United States and a couple overseas, Saint Leo University being the one-thousandth chapter. Every year Saint Leo takes about a dozen student veterans to the national conference in order to help them network with fellow student veterans.
This chapter is for military students, student veterans, military family members and ROTC cadets. The chapter is here to help provide support and has many resources available for members; there is no charge to join.
The University also has Omega Delta Sigma which is a co-ed club. There are dues to pay and the members who join must have served in the military and had an honorable discharge.
Saint Leo plans to continue growing their military resource centers, with a brand new one opening in Virginia next month. This resource center is going to be a place where student veterans and military students can gather for lounging, studying and additional school related resources.
Saint Leo University is a proud supporter of those serving in the military.
“Our President here at Saint Leo is a retired three-star Army general. So, his focus is to say we need to be supportive of all our students, but in particular the transition for someone who is coming out of the military back into a very unfamiliar environment,” Martis added. “And to go back to school is sometimes a lot harder transition than if you were just a student coming from high school.”
3 Comments
You should participate in a contest for probably the greatest blogs on the web. I’ll recommend this web site!
I抎 have to test with you here. Which isn’t something I normally do! I take pleasure in studying a publish that can make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!
Thanks for sharing your ideas on this blog. Likewise, a fairy tale regarding the finance institutions intentions while talking about property foreclosure is that the loan company will not take my repayments. There is a fair bit of time the bank will need payments every now and then. If you are very deep within the hole, they should commonly demand that you pay the payment 100 . However, that doesn’t mean that they will have any sort of payments at all. When you and the lender can seem to work one thing out, a foreclosure method may cease. However, in case you continue to miss out on payments under the new approach, the home foreclosure process can pick up where it left off.