Breaking Down Cultural Barriers to Military Entry into Higher Education

One problem that I anticipate seeing in my field over the coming years is the problem of military students struggling to transition to and succeed as university and college students. I have worked in higher education for ten of the last 15 years in administrative, teaching, and research roles. I have also served in the Army (active duty and reserves) for 6 years and completed my bachelor‟s and first master‟s degree while in the service. As a result of this combination of experiences I have volunteered to work with a large number of soldiers who were trying to obtain their degrees and anticipate doing the same in the future. While there are numerous problems in this field, the main problem that I have observed over the years is that there is a large cultural barrier between the military and higher education. This problem is an extension of the greater problem of lower-class students not being given adequate preparation for college. When I graduated from high school I had a dream of going to college, but that dream was deferred for several years because it took that long for me to learn what kinds of financial aid programs were available and also because I had not yet learned how to be a functional student. I took a few community college courses straight out of high school but promptly failed them because I had not yet learned how to study and learn in the highe