Coming back from service is an adjustment for many military personnel. Ashland University is making an effort to smooth the transition, creating an Office of Veteran Services.

The office will provide veterans on campus with a place to call their own as they start life as a college student.

“Veterans will feel a lot better about having a place to go to answer their questions about benefits, services available to them on campus and in the community,” said John Sikula, director of adult services and veteran services.

Currently, 55 veterans attend AU. In the past, veterans haven’t had a specific office where they could have their questions answered.

Previously, associate registrar Vicki Yoho served as the certification official for veterans on campus.

Sikula wants to provide competitive services for veterans like some bigger schools offer.

Vice president of enrollment management and marketing Scott Van Loo was the chair of the task force that created the office. This task force looked for opportunities to attract veterans to the institution.

“It came to our attention, of course, through the post 9/11 G.I. Bill, that we are going to see an influx of veterans that had an available benefit to attend higher education,” Van Loo said.

They discovered that many institutions have already set up programs for both traditional and non-traditional students who are veterans.

“Some of the things other campuses are doing to attract more veterans on campus include programming, counseling, and offering night and weekend courses,” Sikula said.

These institutions have also designated offices where students could go to receive answers to questions and any other support they would need.

“Veterans will gain a voice on the development of services being made available to them on campus,” Sikula said.

He is presently working with student services for the approval of a provisional charter for a Veteran Student Organization. Once approved, several programming ideas have already been mentioned.

“The programming will emerge from the students after they meet and officially elect their own officers,” Sikula said. “This is not going to be an administratively-run organization; I am simply their advisor.”

He is pleased that so many veterans are enthusiastic about bringing something of this stature to campus.

Veteran Ashley Miklas has great faith that the Office of Veteran Services will be a successful resource.

“By having an office here on campus, student veterans can have easy access to a strong support group and can have their questions resolved,” she said.

Miklas hopes to learn more about what benefits apply to her, meet other veterans and actually have a support group to help her within the campus atmosphere.

If all goes as planned, Sikula anticipates the Veteran Student Organization will be running by the end of the fall semester. They can then start to budget for programming, adopt a Constitution, and contact guest speakers to come to campus.

Van Loo believes this new initiative will continue to make Ashland attractive among prospective students.

“The hope is that it communicates that we are military-friendly in that, when a student is considering us or looking at us as a potential option, they will see that we have designated resources to support veterans,” he said.