UI Veterans Assistance Office benefits veterans
Along with educating more than 300 veterans, the University of Idaho boasts an entire office dedicated to helping veterans succeed in the classroom, and at home.
Nathan Romans | Argonaut
A photo of troops holding a University of Idaho flag in Afghanistan hangs on the wall of the Veterans Assistance Office in the Idaho Commons.
The UI Veterans Assistance Office, an arm of the Dean of Students Office, looks after the university’s veterans. While many student veterans are undergraduates, Assistant Veterans Adviser Scott Oplinger said there is also a great diversity among UI’s veterans, including the 50 graduate students, 60 engineering students and 10 law students who have served in the military and are pursuing degrees.
Veterans Adviser Dan Button said veterans sometimes face challenges converting back to a civilian lifestyle and his office is there to offer extra support for those individuals.
“We dutifully and painstakingly work very hard,” Button said.
Button said veterans often experience a complete shift in lifestyle when they enroll back in school after serving in the military. He said veterans often come from the “most responsible, accountable, structured environment” that they’ll ever experience in their lives, and adjusting to the reality of a loosely structured college life is a struggle for many. Button said it’s his job to help veterans with the transition.
Nathan Romans | Argonaut
A University of Idaho Flag that spent time in Afghanistan hangs on the wall of the Veterans Assistance Office.
In addition to changes in the environment, there are physical disabilities that may come from years of service as well as mental struggles, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, that are among the many challenges Button and Oplinger help veterans fight each day.
Rated in the top 50 schools in the nation for veteran education four years in a row, UI has numerous opportunities and programs available to veterans, including the Veterans Club and the Operation Education scholarship fund. Oplinger said another program, the Yellow Ribbon Program, is designed to help out-of-state tuition and fees become inapplicable to veterans. Due to a common lack of residency or blurred lines as to where a veteran’s residency lies, Button said the Yellow Ribbon Program is a service offered to those who have served in the U.S. military.
Nathan Romans | Argonaut
Galen Beesley, a veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq relaxes in the Veterans Assistance Office in September.
The Veterans Assistance Office is responsible for helping veterans apply for federal benefits available to them. They also help students keep on track with the restrictions applied to their course work and remind them to pay attention to their Degree Audit. Oplinger said, on average, veterans could receive up to 36 months of benefits — equivalent to nine semesters.
Button said UI’s veteran program stands out from other schools because the Veterans Assistance Office is its own entity — rather than combined with another office as many other universities have. This allows for a private place for veterans to go, and provides them with specific people to support them, Button said.
Button said he thinks highly of the most recent post-9/11 GI Bill for veterans, which allows veterans to pass their benefits on to their spouses or children. He said UI has 100 students who are dependents of veteran students.
Katrina Hicks can be reached at [email protected]