ECC named a 2018 Military Friendly School
Elgin Community College has been named a 2018 Military Friendly School by Victory Media. Now in its 16th year, the Military Friendly Schools list provides a comprehensive guide for veterans and their families using data sources from federal agencies, veteran students and proprietary survey information from participating organizations. The Military Friendly Schools list aims to make life better for veterans and their spouses by setting the standard for higher education institutions to provide positive opportunities.
"It is truly an honor being named a 2018 Military Friendly School," said Anitra King, career and veteran specialist. "ECC offers a collaborative, supportive environment for our student veterans. Our campus is understanding and responsive to the needs and benefits of service members, veterans and their families, and we're dedicated to helping them achieve success. ECC acknowledges and appreciates the sacrifices made by service members and their families."
ECC is proud to be recognized as a Military Friendly college that supports student veterans in their academic pursuits. By providing veteran-centered resources and staff dedicated to veterans' success, ECC's graduation rate for veterans was more than twice the national average in recent years.
Resources available to ECC student veterans include the Textbooks for Veterans Program, which essentially operates as a microloan, allowing veterans to purchase their books in time for classes to start, instead of waiting weeks for funds through the GI Bill; the all-new Veterans Resource Center; Military Branches United (MBU), a student organization which meets weekly; and SALUTE Veterans National Honor Society, for those who have completed at least 12 credit hours and have a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
Institutions earning the Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a survey completed by the school. For the first time, student survey data was taken into consideration for the designation. More than 1,300 schools participated in the 2017-2018 survey with 849 earning the designation.