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Lipscomb named military friendly university for fourth year

Winn Thomas | 

Lipscomb University has been named among the top universities in the nation for serving student veterans according to a list released this week by Victory Media.

vets day bison 2011The 2013 Military Friendly Schools list honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are providing services and programs to ensure that military service members, veterans, their spouses and dependents are successful on campus. This is the fourth year Lipscomb has been included on the list.

“Lipscomb has strategically planned to develop and provide the necessary support structure needed to keep up with its 35 percent average annual growth in the number of veteran students on our campus,” said Jim Humphrey, assistant dean of students and director of veterans services.

Other institutions joining Lipscomb on the list include the University of Alabama, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the University of California-Berkley, Elon University, the College of William and Mary and George Mason University.

Since its inception, Lipscomb’s Yellow Ribbon program, now managed by Humphrey, has grown from 20 original participants to more than 170 veterans enrolled this fall and growing. Students have performed well academically with 71 percent of currently enrolled student veterans maintaining a minimum 3.0 GPA, and 13 percent of those maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA.

Humphrey explains that Lipscomb’s success is attributed primarily to its focus on the individual veteran’s transition needs from a military environment into the collegiate environment and on to graduation and job placement.

“Lipscomb is unique in its approach to a solely dedicated veteran service office that works various aspects directly, or as a liaison, for all veteran needs on campus such as, but not limited to, recruiting, Veterans Administration benefits, financial counseling, psychological counseling, academic success, retention, career development, networking, community service and job placement,” said Humphrey. “This ‘center of excellence’ approach is growing among institutions of higher learning to meet the unique program demands of a growing veteran student population.” 

Now in its fourth year, the 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools was compiled through extensive research and a data-driven survey of more than 12,000 Veterans Administration-approved schools nationwide. The survey tabulation process, methodology and weightings that comprise the 2013 list were independently verified by Ernst and Young LLP. Each year schools taking the survey are held to a higher standard than the previous year via improved methodology, criteria and weightings developed with the assistance of an Academic Advisory Board (AAB) consisting of educators from schools across the country.

For more information visit veterans.lipscomb.edu.