Veterans and Military Student Services Scholarship Fund ensures ongoing help for student veterans

Rye Bennett ’18 had a unique introduction to Ohio University following his service in the United States Army. Between his children, mortgage, loans, and fears that maybe he wouldn’t fit in with more traditional students, finishing a college degree seemed unattainable. 

Then Bennett, a full-time student and married father of two, attended the OHIO Veterans and Military Student Services Center “Welcome Social” ceremony. There he found himself surrounded by people with the same questions, the same concerns, and the same life circumstances. The Center talked with Bennett and his family and made them all feel like part of the Bobcat community. Bennett knew he had found the right place to get his degree. 

Transitioning from military life to campus life isn’t easy. Bennett worried about negative reactions to his military service, or that his professors wouldn’t understand if he didn’t have the same schedule as a traditional student. The Veterans Center provided him a place to talk about that transition, and how to communicate with faculty to help them understand his unique circumstance. The Center became a place of familiarity and it allowed him to extend that familiarity to Ohio University, as well.

“The Veterans Center was crucial to my success in so many ways, both academically and personally,” Bennett said.

Bennett had several transfer credits from his military training that didn’t quite fit into a standard major. So he did what a lot of veterans do: he created his own degree as a Bachelor of Specialized Studies. The degree helped him apply everything he had learned to what he wanted to do, and to graduate as soon as possible so he could continue with his career and help his wife and two children. 

Finishing a college degree in four years can be a challenge even for a dedicated student without a family and a job. And many, like Bennett, want a specialized degree – one suited for the unique experience and skill set they acquired during their military service. Because there aren’t as many scholarship opportunities for specialized studies students, fewer scholarships mean a lower rate of success. 

Like many veterans, the Post-9/11 GI Bill helped pay for Bennett’s education. But in his last year, his GI Bill funding ran out, and every day brought an increasing financial strain. In part to student employment with the Veterans Center and scholarship awards established previously by generous alumni donors, he was able to pay for classes. Bennett finished his degree in May 2018. But he knows that not every veteran has the same story.

Around Veterans Day in 2020, the Veterans Center began a crowdfunding campaign for the Veterans and Military Student Services Scholarship Fund, with the goal of endowing an account to provide scholarship opportunities for veterans in Bennett’s position. On Dec. 15, the campaign finished just short of its goal. (The campaign included a generous matching donation from an anonymous donor which was instrumental in getting the account close to the required $25,000 mark, to allow the endowment to be created.) 

Alumni and friends of OHIO can still donate to the fund to help make this endowment a reality. 

“The generosity of our veteran alumni and our friends of veterans is inspiring,” said Terry St. Peter, director for the Brigadier General James M. Abraham & Colonel Arlene F. Greenfield Veterans and Military Student Services Center.

For Bennett, the Veterans Center is a special place. Voted a military-friendly university nine years in a row, OHIO and its Veterans Center gave him a place to talk about the differences between military life and academia, to learn how to explain being an alternative student to faculty, a place to work, and even a place to bring his kids. 

The aim of the Veterans and Military Student Services Scholarship Fund is to demonstrate OHIO’s commitment to veterans and their unique challenges and needs and foster a sense of community and belonging. A better community means more people like Bennett will be available to help younger students better understand the perspective of military life, and for professors to be more aware of what it means to be an alternative student.  

“Being able to offer this scholarship helps the University in graduation rates and percentages. It also shows how Ohio University has dedicated its Military-affiliated and Veterans students an opportunity to finish a program,” Bennett said.

To support the Veterans and Military Student Services Scholarship Fund, visit give.ohio.edu.