ASU remains at military education forefront with another gold rating

Arizona State University has been designated a Military Friendly School for the ninth consecutive year, university officials confirmed Wednesday.

The designation comes from Victory Media, a leader in helping connect the military community with education and professional opportunities through their G.I. Jobs and Military Spouse publications.  

ASU earned a “gold” rating, placing it within the top of the more than 1,400 schools that participated in the 2018-2019 survey. EdPlus, ASU’s online education arm, also earned separate recognition as a Military Friendly School.

“Helping veterans and other military-affiliated students get access to quality higher education continues to be our driving force in the Pat Tillman Veterans Center,” said Steve Borden, Pat Tillman Veterans Center director. “We place great value on our military and veteran students, which is part of ASU’s larger affinity toward national defense and public service.”

Universities earning the Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey.  For the first time, student survey data was taken into consideration for the designation. 

“We continually work on innovative ways to make the student veteran’s ASU journey a transformational and not a transactional college experience,” said Michelle Loposky, Pat Tillman Veterans Center assistant director for outreach and engagement. “One of our goals is to help our military students by pointing them toward internships, research, and other opportunities so when they graduate they leave here with a diploma and a broader range of beneficial experiences.”

More than 7,200 military-affiliated students are currently enrolled online and on campus, making ASU one of the largest universities per capita in the U.S. for students earning their degrees with GI Bill and Department of Defense tuition assistance benefits.  

“The support ASU has for veterans is unmatched for public universities,” said U.S. Marine Corps veteran Anthony Lawrence, a communication major with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “That is because the folks at the Pat Tillman Veterans Center care and work hard to support veterans and to get us involved.” 

Over half of enrolled military students are online. The most popular degree programs for veterans at ASU are in engineering, STEM, as well as those leading to continued community service — such as criminology, criminal justice studies, social work, health programs and teaching.

Methodology, criteria and weightings were determined by Victory Media with input from the Military Friendly Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher education and military recruitment community. Final ratings were determined by combining the institution’s survey scores with the assessment of the institution’s ability to meet thresholds for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence (degree advancement or transfer) and loan default rates for all students and, specifically, for student veterans.

“Our ability to apply a clear, consistent standard to colleges creates a competitive atmosphere that encourages colleges to invest in programs to provide educational outcomes that are better for veterans,” Victory Media’s Chief Product Officer Daniel Nichols said.

Get more information about ASU’s student veteran programs and all of ASU’s overall military initiatives.