New Jersey acts to help veterans adjust to college

They made it through months of hard service on battlefields across Iraq and Afghanistan. And many have overcome physical and mental wounds of war.

But some veterans now face challenges they weren't trained for: mountains of paperwork and a maze of programs to negotiate as they make the transition to college classrooms.

Helping them through that daunting process in New Jersey is the new Troops to College program, signed into law this week by Gov. Corzine.

The program puts a veterans' assistance officer on each public campus to guide veterans through the financial-aid requirements and college bureaucracy. It also provides counseling and online resources.

Pennsylvania does not have a similar state-enacted program, though many campuses in the state and in New Jersey already have veterans' assistance representatives, officials said yesterday.

"It's not easy to get on your feet and back into school," said New Jersey National Guard Army Sgt. Marie Exley, 30, of Voorhees, who served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and from 2007 to last year.

"This program sounds like it would make the transition easier. You wouldn't get discouraged and lost in the shuffle."

Soldiers' feelings of isolation are common after combat tours, making adjustment to busy campus life particularly difficult, said former Army Spec. Bryan Adams, 25, of Palmyra, who was shot twice in Iraq during a tour from 2004 to 2005.

"The legislation is excellent; every university should have" a veterans' assistance officer, said Adams, a pre-business major at Rutgers University in Camden. "When we come back, we face a unique set of issues - obstacles that [the] average student doesn't have to worry about.

"When I got out [of the military], I didn't know where to go. I didn't know anything about college. It's complicated to apply for your benefits."

New Jersey's veterans "carry on a long tradition of those who have answered their nation's call to action," said Corzine, who called the Troops to College program "a small down payment on the tremendous debt we owe our military members - past and present - for defending our nation and our way of life.

"I believe the service we provide our veterans and our soldiers is a duty we cannot ignore."

The measure received strong bipartisan support in the Legislature and was signed into law by Corzine on Sunday.

"Our soldiers deserve the best, and that includes access to higher education," said Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D., Middlesex).

The veterans' "military training has prepared them for the challenges on the ground in places like Iraq and Afghanistan," added Assemblyman Scott Rudder (R., Burlington). "This new law will help them adjust to a tour of duty as a civilian on a college campus."

The impetus for the law came, in large part, from veterans.

Adams said he and others, including Iraq veteran William Brown Jr., had pushed Rutgers and state lawmakers to provide better services to veterans.

Many returning soldiers "don't know what they're entitled to, where to go on university campuses, how to get benefits, how to sign up for courses, and what offices you have to go to," Adams said.

Yesterday, the new law was praised by college officials, many of whom already had begun to help service members.

"Last year, Rutgers expanded its services to veterans, creating veterans' services offices, mentoring programs, special orientations, and advisory boards on all three Rutgers campuses" in Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark, said Gregory S. Blimling, Rutgers' vice president for student affairs. ". . . We welcome the opportunity to assist the men and women who have so bravely served our nation."

At Richard Stockton College in Pomona, Atlantic County, Patrick Shields, the school's coordinator of veterans affairs, also welcomed the law.

"Veterans have quite a few things they have to adjust to," he said. "They need help getting benefits from the new G.I. Bill. They need help getting housing and financial aid. They also need help getting through the admissions process, help with mental-health counseling and disability issues."

Atlantic Cape Community College officials said the Mays Landing school also would participate. It will provide a counselor to work with veterans, develop a college advisory committee to review issues, implement a program to assist veterans, and provide online information about assistance services, said Stacey Clapp, a college spokeswoman.

"I've gone to Rowan University, the College of New Jersey [in Trenton], and Rutgers," said Exley, the Iraq veteran who received a bachelor's degree in communications.

"The changes could help alleviate a lot of problems," she said. "I have been thinking about going back. The more support veterans have in the college system, the better."