Post University has been military-friendly since 1976, but where are we now? We interviewed Charles Young, the Director of Military Field Enrollment, to find out.
How did the program start?
“The program started in 2007 with Ed Lizotte and Ron Silva making outreaches to the Army National Guard primarily. In 2009 Ed Lizotte reached out to the Army Recruiting Command with a proposal to establish an education partnership. At the time it was just Ed Lizotte, two counselors, and one field rep, Arthur Stewart. The formal partnership was signed April 4th, 2010 and that really established the growth for the military partnerships and the military program. In 2011, we added the United States Navy Recruiting Command as an educational partner and really grew the program to where we had four field representatives, several counselors, and a director.” The program has continued to grow over the past few years.
How does Post support its military students?
Post has developed many resources as part of this program to help members of the military in their academic careers. “Post University is one of the few universities that has a dedicated team made up primarily of veterans to advise and assist military members, veterans, and spouses to get the education that they need.” Since this dedicated team is largely veterans, they are able to understand the challenges that members of the military face on a daily basis, and provide support with those experiences in mind.
“Part of the team’s job is outreach and customer service. When the military field representatives are travelling, they connect with our military Post students to ensure that they’re on track to graduate.”
“We have a dedicated admissions team, we have dedicated military field representatives, we have the dedicated military Academic Success Counselors (ASC), we also have a full time director, and we have a full time military education services coordinator.” ASCs are specific to the military members who are enrolled in Post, and they advise students in their class decisions and ensure that they are able to balance their academics and their military service.
There are many other benefits in place to accommodate members of the military in their path to higher education. “We go out of our way to keep our tuition rates as low as we can, in accordance with the DoD, MOU, and guidance from both SOC and the veterans’ administration. We pay for all books for all military program students, veterans, service members, and their family members, we waive all fees and we are willing to, if they have to be deployed don’t charge them for that class. We let them withdraw at any point in time if it’s for a military reason.”
Who should consider enrolling at Post?
Regardless of where the person is in their military career, what should truly determine whether or not they are ready to pursue higher education is their drive to learn. “Anybody who wants to learn and actually be challenged because of their academic stringency that’s who should come see us, not someone who’s just looking for a piece of paper.”
People who are interested in specific programs that Post offers should consider enrolling. Some of these programs are “our legal programs, our human resources programs, our business programs, our education programs, criminal justice, and our newest program that is really strong, our emergency management, Homeland Security, and now project management has come on as a real strong program”
In short: “Anyone who has a desire to achieve a goal of higher education should consider enrolling at Post University.”
Why is military enrollment so important to Post?
The military community is very important to Post, “military enrollment is a way for Post to give back to the military community, honoring those who serve our country as well as their spouses, their families, and our veterans.”
Post also hosts many events that recognize the military members of the community. “We have special recognition events on campus such as military appreciation day which is usually during our homecoming celebration for our football team, and remembrances for memorial day.” Military members are always welcome at Post events, “the VFW normally comes on and they do the presentation of the colors for the national anthem, and anybody that is military is invited to come and participate in the activities.”
“Our department tagline has always been the fact that serving those who served is not just a buzzword for us, it’s something that we take to heart and truly mean. It’s an honor and a privilege to serve those who have served and their families.”