Issak Hernandez’s love of knowledge came from his career in the military. Serving in the United States Army for 6 years, he tried to learn everything he could.

Hernandez, now a junior information management and technology major, chose Syracuse University because he wanted to be part of a community that was continuously learning. He also saw the university as a place that supported veterans. SU’s website had a tab for veterans on its homepage. The university was going to construct its $62.5 million National Veterans Resource Center.

And SU was ranked as one of the best schools for veterans to attend. 

“I really thought to myself, ‘I’m actually here. I’m actually at the best school to go to,’” Hernandez said. “And that’s not just based on obviously myself, but based on everything that they do for the veterans.”

Military Times ranked SU as the No.1 private school for veterans on its 2020 Best for Vets list. SU also earned the ranking for 2017 and 2019. Student veterans told The Daily Orange they’ve felt the university’s commitment to veterans and believe the ranking is deserved.

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SU’s veteran’s office has allowed Mike Sullivan, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, to access campus resources. Without having to focus on tuition, he can focus on other activities like studying abroad, said Sullivan, a senior political science major.

“The veteran resources have made it easier for me to take advantage of what SU has to offer,” Sullivan said. “They’re doing it all.”

The programs and resources offered to veterans at SU are “second to none,” said Ron Novack, executive director of the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs, in an email.

SU is one of 15 University Partners in the Pat Tillman Foundation, which provides academic scholarships and development opportunities to military-connected people and their families. Partner schools are chosen based on their veteran services, cultures of support and academic programs.

The university also houses the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, an institute that works to help veterans reacclimate to civilian life and be prepared for careers, Novack said.

“Syracuse has a long history of supporting veterans and the military dating back to WWI,” he said. “That legacy makes an impact as does Chancellor Syverud making supporting veterans a strategic priority of his chancellorship.”

First-year student veterans at SU are assigned a student veteran peer adviser through Peer Advisors for Veterans Education, a national program that helps veterans adjust to campus. When Hernandez didn’t know where a class was during his first week at SU, his adviser sent him a photo with the class’ location circled on a map of the university.

Hernandez sometimes feels as though he’s different from a lot of his peers at SU, but being around other veterans makes that connection better, he said. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Hernandez meets his veteran friends in the veteran’s lounge at University College to talk about what’s going on in their lives.

“Being able to talk to my vet friends is like, ‘Cool, you understand where I’m coming from or some of my frustrations with some of my classes and things like that,’” he said.

Charlie Poag first attended SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication for two semesters starting in 2008, where he earned a certificate in military and visual journalism. The program greatly impacted him, said Poag. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 16 years.

When Poag wanted to return to Newhouse and put his GI bill toward a degree in public relations, the school was more than accepting of it, he said.

Veterans who have worked with or for him would have difficulties with their college processing paperwork on time for the GI Bill, Poag said. They would miss payments and fall behind on their rent, as the bill provides a housing allowance. Poag has never experienced that problem at SU, he said.

The university offers unlimited Yellow Ribbon Program benefits, which help cover costs not included in the post-9/11 GI Bill, Novack said. The bill provides financial assistance to military-connected students and can cover some costs of a student’s tuition and fees at private or foreign schools.

“A lot of colleges and universities, they have somebody that maybe has read up on the GI Bill and they try and explain it but they don’t really understand what it means to be a veteran,” Poag said. “Syracuse University, they have an entire team of veterans, the OVMA, that’s just dedicated to making those two worlds connect, and they do a great job of it.”

Because of the effort, attention and work SU puts toward veterans — from highlighting a student veteran each month to Chancellor Kent Syverud inviting veterans to his home during the holiday — Poag said the university deserves its No. 1 ranking.

“It’s just little nice things that make you feel that as a veteran that somebody in the hierarchy of this big system here, this institution is actually thinking about veterans,” Poag said.

Published on November 10, 2019 at 10:30 pm

Contact Emma: esfolts@syr.edu