thedrifter
09-27-07, 03:13 AM
WMU offers veterans break
College plans to pick up cost for their first semester
September 27, 2007
BY ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Smudged by sweat, grease and Fallujah rain, Lance Cpl. Andrew Rathbun's to-do list ranged from simple to life-transforming.
Buy Xbox 360, the rifleman from the 1st Battalion of the 24th Marines scrawled in his pocket notebook.
Make sure college is ready for me.
Western Michigan University was.
The 25,000-student university this fall began offering a semester's free tuition to military veterans like Rathbun, 20, who grew up in Holland, Mich., and whose unit returned from Iraq in April. Dozens of returning service members have taken advantage of the program, which was announced in May.
"They challenged us to reward, to compensate the vets," said Mark Delorey, director of financial aid and scholarships, referring to a request from the WMU Board of Trustees.
If all went well, the program would boost enrollment too, he said.
Returning from active duty, veterans often face an "a bad cash-flow problem" when they sign up for classes, Delorey said.
Tuition reimbursements by the GI bill, which has paid for veterans' schooling since World War II, might lag for several weeks after a school's tuition bill is due.
Senior Airman Lyndsey Ballard, an optometry technician at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, returned to Michigan this year after four years with the Air Force and took advantage of the WMU program.
Ballard, 26, of Watervliet and her husband are paying for their first house, a car and things like cable and Internet.
Add up the school's enrollment fees, parking fees and tuition and "you're looking at $5,000 to start," she said.
WMU officials didn't know what to expect this spring when they rolled out the program. They guessed about 30 vets might sign up, Delorey said. But by earlier this week, at least 40 men and four women had signed on, said Brenda Hamlyn, veterans affairs representative in the registrar's office.
That's OK with the school, which is giving each student up to $3,630 in free tuition for their initial semester, even though it's unclear whether the program's second goal -- nudging enrollment -- will be met.
Most of the participants, including Rathbun, are returning WMU students. And Ballard said she already had decided to go to WMU before hearing about the program.
For Rathbun, who is single and without a mortgage, it wasn't a budget crunch necessarily, but he appreciates the extra $3,285 he has received.
The criminal justice major is practical about it, though. "It's money for when I start needing to pay tuition," he said.
Contact ROBIN ERB at 313-222-2708 or rerb@freepress.com.
Ellie
College plans to pick up cost for their first semester
September 27, 2007
BY ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Smudged by sweat, grease and Fallujah rain, Lance Cpl. Andrew Rathbun's to-do list ranged from simple to life-transforming.
Buy Xbox 360, the rifleman from the 1st Battalion of the 24th Marines scrawled in his pocket notebook.
Make sure college is ready for me.
Western Michigan University was.
The 25,000-student university this fall began offering a semester's free tuition to military veterans like Rathbun, 20, who grew up in Holland, Mich., and whose unit returned from Iraq in April. Dozens of returning service members have taken advantage of the program, which was announced in May.
"They challenged us to reward, to compensate the vets," said Mark Delorey, director of financial aid and scholarships, referring to a request from the WMU Board of Trustees.
If all went well, the program would boost enrollment too, he said.
Returning from active duty, veterans often face an "a bad cash-flow problem" when they sign up for classes, Delorey said.
Tuition reimbursements by the GI bill, which has paid for veterans' schooling since World War II, might lag for several weeks after a school's tuition bill is due.
Senior Airman Lyndsey Ballard, an optometry technician at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, returned to Michigan this year after four years with the Air Force and took advantage of the WMU program.
Ballard, 26, of Watervliet and her husband are paying for their first house, a car and things like cable and Internet.
Add up the school's enrollment fees, parking fees and tuition and "you're looking at $5,000 to start," she said.
WMU officials didn't know what to expect this spring when they rolled out the program. They guessed about 30 vets might sign up, Delorey said. But by earlier this week, at least 40 men and four women had signed on, said Brenda Hamlyn, veterans affairs representative in the registrar's office.
That's OK with the school, which is giving each student up to $3,630 in free tuition for their initial semester, even though it's unclear whether the program's second goal -- nudging enrollment -- will be met.
Most of the participants, including Rathbun, are returning WMU students. And Ballard said she already had decided to go to WMU before hearing about the program.
For Rathbun, who is single and without a mortgage, it wasn't a budget crunch necessarily, but he appreciates the extra $3,285 he has received.
The criminal justice major is practical about it, though. "It's money for when I start needing to pay tuition," he said.
Contact ROBIN ERB at 313-222-2708 or rerb@freepress.com.
Ellie