Resources Abound for Veteran Success

The veterans resource center is planning a trip to the Capitol in Sacramento on March 8 to have students “tell their stories” and encourage legislators to keep funding the California community college veterans resource centers.

The Sacramento trip will have student veterans representation from all 113 community colleges in the state.

More student veterans receive benefits in the state of California than in any other state. More than 80,000 veterans use their benefits in the state, according to a 2012 study by the department of Veterans Affairs.

At Fresno City College, the veterans resource center provides information that helps make veterans’ college experience easier.

Mario Reposo, counselor at the veterans center, said that about 70 percent of the veteran students at FCC are not fully aware of the extent of the benefits available to them.

In community colleges, they can use the veterans resource centers to become better students and achieve their career goals.

Veterans use their educational benefits or GI Bill to pay for their tuition and books, and depending on which type of benefit a veteran is eligible for, they can also receive an allowance for housing and other supplies.

Sometimes, though, even with the GI Bill, veterans find themselves needing a little more help to find success in their education, and that’s when they should turn to the Veterans Resource Center.

“For the most part, their success rate is higher than the regular student,” Reposo said. “They are older and sometimes have families–student veterans want to do well, and they take things very seriously.”

Most veterans go on to use their basic educational benefits without exploring all the other options available to help them.

“Only until I contacted the resource center and talked to one of the attendants did I realize about all the benefits,” veteran student, Joseph Rangel, business administration major, said. “The resource center has been one of the key factors in my success as a student.”

Frank Mathews, another veteran student, said getting the benefits “was not that hard once you go through the proper channels; it opens the door to a long list of individuals that can help.”

The Veterans Resource Center is run by Fresno City College.

Many veterans are sometimes not referred to the resource center and could go for a long time without knowing about their eligibility to receive benefits.

Francisco Ramirez, a veteran majoring in dental hygiene, said, “I didn’t know a lot about the variety of benefits because I didn’t come in here first and talk to the resource center.”

He also said that vocational rehab benefits can help pay for school supplies.

Ramirez said, “I could talk to vocational rehab and they were able to purchase me a laptop and printer for my studies.”

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the Veterans Resource Center was run by the Department of Veterans Affairs.