Minnesota State Community and Technical College was designated a military-friendly school by an organization called VIQTORY which works to create resources for veterans introducing them to employment, entrepreneurship and education opportunities.
"M State is proud of its veteran students and of the supportive education and services our veteran and non-veteran faculty and staff provide to our military members and their families," M State President Carrie Brimhall said. "The military-friendly school distinction by VIQTORY is an accurate reflection of our college culture."
According to a press release from M State, the college has approximately 180 students who receive federal military education benefits which are available for veterans, their spouses and dependents. According to Interim Chief Strategic Growth Officer Peter Wielinski, hundreds of active service members and veterans attend classes at M State.
Those who have served in the military have the opportunity to turn some of their experience and training into credit as many in the military are trained in IT, mechanics, leadership, EMT skills, and more.
"Each of our campuses has a dedicated space for veterans to go to for help, resources and just for them to go to at the Veterans Resource Center," Wielinski said. "We have staff and counselors, many of who are veterans themselves, they attend training that is specific to military members. They may have barriers that are very specific to themselves."
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M State has been recognized as a military-friendly school for the past five years, each year resubmitting data on several aspects of how the college interacts with service members, veterans and their family. VIQTORY looks at public data sources, survey data and scores on student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment, persistence and loan-default rates when making their decision on which colleges are designated military-friendly schools.
M State was only one of six community college in the Minnesota State system to receive the award and only 766 schools in the nation were awarded out of 8,800.
