WWU Again Recognized as ‘Military Friendly School’

Western Washington University has been selected as a “Military Friendly School” for 2018-19.

“The survey results have been released a bit earlier than usual, but we are once again proud of our military friendly designation.  Western continues to develop programs to benefit our Veteran Community, from our Veteran Completion Tuition Waiver to our weekly Drop Zone gatherings that bring our students together.  We are constantly working to make sure that our students are getting their needs met and finishing out their education here at Western,” said Ann Beck, assistant director of Veteran Services at Western.

Institutions 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. More than 1,400 schools participated in the 2018-2019 survey with 941 earning the designation.

The 2018-2019 Military Friendly® Schools list will be published in the May issue of G.I. Jobs magazine and can be found at www.militaryfriendly.com.

This is the sixth year Western has earned the recognition. Western offers a range of Veterans services, which can be found in the Veteran Services Office in Old Main. The Associated Students also have a Veteran Outreach Coordinator, who often is found in the Veteran Services Office.

“Our office offers a space for students to engage and interact with their peers, as well as a point of reference to have their questions around military service, VA educational benefits, and the Western Veteran’s Community answered,” Beck said.

For the survey, 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.