2018-2019 Annual Report – Military Student Success

Mission

The mission of the Military Student Success Center is to help military students (Veterans, Active Duty, Guard, Reserve, and Dependents) reach their educational and career goals. We do this by helping them receive their educational benefits (Tuition Assistance or VA); acting as a liaison; assisting with college navigation; and achieving *academic success.

Summary Narrative

1) Enhance recruitment and retention efforts to increase enrollment

  • Created a detailed recruitment and retention plan, but was unable to carry it out thoroughly due to budget constraints. Additional resources were provided to the department late this year, and will be provided in 2019-20, and the department has been moved to enrollment management to more strategically focus on recruiting military-affiliated students.
  • Attended National Guard Association conference.
  • Hosted Little Rock Air Force Base Education Center staff to campus.
  • Posted informational brochures at Camp Robinson and LRAFB.

2) Strengthen student-friendly operations and customer service

  • Provided customer service training for our VA work studies.

3) Improve diversity and inclusion efforts to provide a safe and inclusive environment for students

  • Encouraged participation in various events like the Code Talkers of World War II, hosted at the Sequoyah National Research Center and International Week Celebration.

4) Align financial and human resources to operate more effectively and efficiently

n/a

5) Promote student development, engagement, and leadership

  • Encouraged the leadership of Students Affected by the Military to become proactive with student government.
  • SGA leadership attended many Military Student Success Center events and promised support in the future.

At A Glance

  • Number of Military Students:

Fall 2018 = 694

Spring 2019 = 681

Summer 2019 = 526

  • Graduates:

Fall 2018 = 86

Spring 2019 = 89

Assessment 1

Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)

Student learning outcome 3C

Activity or experience being assessed

Transition assistance program services

Assessment artifacts

Survey

We created a survey that asked if the Military Student Success Center helped military students in their transition. We asked questions related to what military students think about the job the center does in helping with their transition.

The plan was to do an initial survey at the beginning of each semester for military student expectations and needs of the Military Student Success Center and then survey military students at the end of each semester to determine the effectiveness of the transition assistance program.

We have been present as a “spin off” of each student orientation program. All total, we spoke to a handful of students about their benefits. The time spent waiting for someone to show up and the fact that during the spring 2019 semester there was only one person in the office we did not observe a great surge in understanding for military students to understand their benefits nor did it seem to help military students transition from military life to campus living.

Time period assessment was done

October 2018

Results

We sent a survey to approximately 700 students at the middle of the fall semester 2018.  Unfortunately, we did not meet our goal of the beginning of the semester due to unforeseen circumstances. We realized a 7% return rate.

The following are the questions and responses:

I am promptly greeted and assisted at the Military Student Success Center counter.

40 Agree

1 Slightly agree

9 Neutral

0 Slightly disagree

0 Disagree

I am professionally and courteously assisted at the Military Student Success Center.

45 Agree

1 Slightly agree

4 Neutral

0 Slightly disagree

0 Disagree

The Military Student Success Center is adequately staffed.

0 Agree

0 Slightly agree

1 Neutral

10 Slightly disagree

39 Disagree

The Military Student Success Center hours of operation are convenient.

39 Agree

1 Slightly agree

10 Neutral

0 Slightly disagree

0 Disagree

The Military Student Success Center created a smooth transition from the military to college.

48 Agree

1 Slightly agree

0 Neutral

1 Slightly disagree

0 Disagree

The handouts and brochures available at the Military Student Success Center helped guide me along my college journey.

48 Agree

0 Slightly agree

0 Neutral

1 Slightly disagree

1 Disagree

I received suitable assistance in obtaining VA educational benefits.

47 Agree

1 Slightly agree

2 Neutral

0 Slightly disagree

0 Disagree

I feel that any obstacles that came up with my VA educational benefits were handled quickly and appropriately.

4 Agree

45 Slightly agree

1 Neutral

0 Slightly disagree

0 Disagree

The Military Student Success Center acted as a liaison between myself and other departments.

46 Agree

0 Slightly agree

2 Neutral

0 Slightly disagree

2 Disagree

Because of the support of the Military Student Success Center, I am likely to graduate from UA Little Rock.

49 Agree

1 Slightly agree

5 Neutral

0 Slightly disagree

0 Disagree

Overall, I consider the Military Student Success Center to be “veteran friendly.”

49 Agree

1 Slightly agree

0 Neutral

0 Slightly disagree

0 Disagree

What was the most useful resource provided by the Military Student Success Center?

  • Information, I didn’t get half as much information from around campus as I did from the ladies at the center.
  • Computers
  • The kitchen. As I was finishing my MSW, I used the kitchen as a quiet place to eat my lunch and study.

What was one thing you wish you the Military Student Success Center would have provided you?

  • Extended hours
  • More computers

It appears from the responses, the Military Student Success Center is fulfilling its mission and helping military students with their transition to campus life.

Continuous improvement process

We were not able to administer an additional survey in the spring due to having only one staff member. Priority was placed on processing VA educational benefits and helping students with issues.  We will administer this survey again fall 2019.

We will use the feedback from our military students to base changes on the data collected as much as possible.

We will strategize ways to increase participation before the next survey.

WHEN: Fall 2019

Stakeholder involvement / Communication plan

Campus, military students, and MSSC will publish results on the website.

Assessment 2

This assessment was not done, due to personnel issues and being short-staffed most of the year.

The plan was to develop programs to address the obstacles commonly faced among military students. We created informational pamphlets about the services we provide and collected ready-made booklets from the VA.  Our goal was to make sure our military students understand their benefits and know what to do and when to do it.

We created the “No SAM left behind” peer program and have webpages for the mentor and mentee.  Currently, we have also made a menu on our website that allows the student to figure out what benefit they may be eligible for simply by knowing “who they are.”

Despite not being able to assess the effectiveness of this effort this year, we are going to carry this piece forward into 2019-20 and will assess how helpful the information is for our military students.

Assessment 3

Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)

Student learning outcome 4B

Activity or experience being assessed

Service learning project

Assessment artifacts

Interview

Time period assessment was done

Spring 2019

Results

The students we interviewed were our student Veteran organization leadership.  Each one who participated relayed a sense of pride in giving back to the campus community by preparing and serving breakfast on Memorial Day. They also felt good about serving the Veteran community by helping gather donated items that went to Veterans in need.

We used our Memorial Day observance as a day of service.  We served breakfast to our campus community. (Faculty, Staff, and Students) In the afternoon, we helped Veterans Villages of America (V2A) gather up a household worth of stuff. These items ranged from books to furniture.

V2A was contacted by an Air Force Veterans who was in the last stages of cancer.  She wanted her stuff to go to a worthy cause and chose V2A. We boxed up all the items and books that this Veteran collected from all over the world and throughout her life.

Our student Veteran organization SAM helped with this endeavor and we were given four boxes of reference books as well as a few textbooks and memorabilia.  This service-learning project helped those military students who participated by helping them see how they can give back to the community.

We had more people participate in our pancake breakfast than we have ever had attend our “formal” ceremonies.  The military students who were present learned what it means to serve others and this helped enrich their college experience by providing a greater interpersonal development and learning to work with others to build leadership and communication skills.

Continuous improvement process

There was no actionable feedback, other than to do the event again next year the exact same, which we plan to do.

Stateholder involvement / Communication plan

Military students and the Veteran community.  We have posted pictures on Facebook.

Priorities for Next Year

  • Work with the Director of the TRIO program to apply for the US Department of Education TRIO Veteran grant.
  • Work with the Office of Development to create scholarships for military students and raise money to help with the fiscal shortfalls, because without additional support there can be limited growth of the military student population.