FSU ranks 8th ‘Best Colleges for Vets’

Posted by Kate Blosser on

Florida State University has risen in the ranks, hitting No. 8 in the most recent “Best Colleges for Vets” ranking, published annually by Military Times magazine.

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Student veteran Will Beachem

With a military student population of 372, Florida State University has the second highest graduation rate in the top 10 schools. Florida State earned a four star rating for extracurriculars and 3.5 for staff supports. Student veteran and information technology major, Will Beachem, has been in the Army for 13 years. With nine years of active duty and four in the Reserves, he serves as Chief Financial Officer at FSU Veterans Student Union and Vice President at Florida State University Collegiate Veteran’s Association.

“Most schools have faculty and staff support, others have local government and faculty; but we have the trifecta,” said Beachem. “We have support from faculty and staff, students and the local government. Nobody else has what we have.”

Florida State University started the first chapter of the Student Veterans of America (SVA). Last year, the FSU chapter took 2nd place in the SVA National Conference Business Plan competition, and plans to attend the conference again in early January.

Earlier this year, FSU’s Collegiate Veteran’s Association was awarded the MVP Project Degree Completion Opportunity Award at the 127th Annual Meeting of the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU). The MVP Opportunity Award is given to an APLU university that has made exceptional progress with increasing retention toward or successful completion of a bachelor’s degree for historically underrepresented and underserved students during the past three years. The APLU awarded FSU specifically for “its work addressing the postsecondary education needs of veterans.” In the past five years, veterans entering FSU who were retained into their second year averaged 98 percent. As a result, the six-year graduation rate for veterans has grown from 69 percent to 86 percent.

Florida State University is committed to becoming the most veteran friendly university in the country, an effort noticed and appreciated by students, staff and faculty.

“It was nice to see our veterans recognized at Friday’s graduation ceremony,” said Pamela Doffek, Director of the Goldstein Library, who served in the United States Air Force for seventeen years.

Check out FSU Veterans Student Union and FSU Collegiate Veteran’s Association for more information.