Photo caption: Involving students who are veterans at Kalamazoo Valley Community College was important to the college when it held a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of 9/11.
The Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency has once again named Kalamazoo Valley Community College a Veteran-Friendly School, with gold-level status, and certified the college as an official Veteran Connector school, a program that connects veterans to benefits and resources in all areas of life, including education, employment, and health care.
The Michigan Veteran-Friendly Schools Program recognizes academic institutions committed to supporting the needs of veterans and military-connected students. These institutions are awarded gold, silver, and bronze-level status based on their veteran-centric services and programs. Gold status is the highest level.
Kalamazoo Valley’s Veteran Services Coordinator Charles Heidelberg said it is an honor to be named a 2023 Veteran-Friendly School.
“Achieving gold-level status for the third year in a row is a real testament to the college’s efforts to not just be veteran-friendly for our more than 250 student veterans, but veteran-embracing,” Heidelberg said. “We work tirelessly to create a smooth transition from soldier to student, supporting these men and women every step of the way.”
Any academic institution or training facility in Michigan eligible to receive veteran education benefits can apply for the program. Veteran-Friendly School Program criteria includes:
- Established processes for identification of current student veterans
- Veteran-specific website
- Active student veteran organization or club
- Veteran-specific career services, resources, advising and/or outcome monitoring
- On-campus veterans’ coordinator and/or designated staff point of contact
- System to evaluate and award academic credit based on prior military training and experience
- Monitoring and evaluation of student veteran academic retention, progress and graduation rates
Schools are accepted into the program at the bronze, silver, or gold level. A school that is accepted at the gold level, the top tier, has met at least six of the seven criteria to be a Veteran-Friendly School.
For more information about the veteran services available at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, contact Charles Heidelberg at 269.488.4970 or cheidelberg@kvcc.edu.
ABOUT KALAMAZOO VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Established in 1966, Kalamazoo Valley Community College offers certificate programs in more than 50 areas of study and associate degrees in 60 others. These include business, healthcare, human and public service, and technical occupations, culinary arts, and brewing training. The college has four Kalamazoo, Michigan locations, including the Texas Township Campus, the Groves Campus, the Arcadia Commons Campus, and the Bronson Healthy Living Campus. Classes are available during the day, evening, online, and weekends.
