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Devon Edwards loves the spoken word, poems and music—something he came to understand about himself during his years in the United States Military. He feels comfortable in front of a large crowd, enjoys deejaying and attending Columbia’s Big Mouth events. He is passionate about movies—the one thing he said helped him stay connected to home during his years overseas. Edwards is now a film and video major at Columbia.

After spending 17 years serving in the Navy, Air Force and Army, Edwards fell ill. He spent months meeting with medical specialists who worked tirelessly to diagnose him and was eventually diagnosed with Lupus. But Edwards didn’t give up hope. Instead, he applied the perseverance he had learned during his years in the armed forces and decided that this was his chance to live the life he had been dreaming of.

After receiving the Lupus diagnosis, Edwards was medically discharged from the military and given the option to utilize a vocational rehabilitation benefit, which allows disabled veterans to return to college and learn a new vocation. This benefit pays for Edwards’ tuition and tuition-related expenses in full.

“I came to Columbia because I spent years serving my country, and it was time to do something for me,” Edwards said. “I could have gone to other schools, but I live by the motto that good isn’t good enough when better is available. Other schools were good, but Columbia is better.”

Edwards said he loves Columbia and the freedom he has to express himself here. He can wear whatever clothes he wants, keep his hair any way he likes and listen to whatever type of music makes him happy. However, he said he is very frustrated at the lack of information available to veterans who might be interested in attending Columbia.

“When I came to orientation [there was not] one mention of veterans,” Edwards said. “No one talked to me about our veterans’ representative. There is not even information on [Columbia’s] website.”

Due to the inability for veterans to apply their state-issued grant money toward tuition at private institutions, Columbia has, in comparison to many public colleges, a relatively low number of enrolled students who take advantage of veterans’ benefits.

Many soldiers still cannot afford to attend private institutions like Columbia, DePaul University or Northwestern University because the Montgomery GI Bill is currently limited to a monthly payment of about $1,100. Although the new bill will increase benefits to include full in-state tuition, the Post 9/11 GI Bill will only allow students to apply the benefit to public institutions.

Despite the financial hurdles that come along with attending a private college, some students, like journalism major and United States Air Force veteran Mica Hendricks, have decided to attend Columbia. Hendricks said she agrees that veterans at Columbia often go unnoticed.

Hendricks first came to Columbia in fall 2003 to pursue a journalism degree, but she was already thinking about enlisting in the military in order to help pay for her tuition. Hendricks enlisted during her first year of college but was placed on a waiting list. She did not receive her orders to report to basic combat training until almost a year after she enlisted.

“For people who really can’t afford school and who are struggling, I would suggest the military,” Hendricks said. “You are working, while getting paid, while picking up a trade that will make you marketable for a job that you might try to get when you get out of the military. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a way to pay for college.”

Across all branches, the U.S. Military is showing steady recruitment numbers, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. In December, the Army exceeded its recruitment goal, reaching 115 percent. The United States Marine Corps reported reaching 113 percent of its recruiting goal.

Pfc. Christen Rowland is a nursing student at Chicago State University and a member of the Army National Guard. She said she joined the Guard because she needed a way to pay for college.

Enlisting in the Guard turned out to be the perfect solution for Rowland. She said it has allowed her to receive specialized training and assistance to pay for her schooling.

“The Army gives you tests so you can see what you’re good at,” she said. “They helped me decide to go into nursing, and now they are paying for my education.”

As a member of the Illinois National Guard, Rowland’s entire tuition and all tuition-related expenses are paid for by the state because she attends an Illinois-funded institution. She is also entitled to the Federal Montgomery GI Bill, a federal veterans’ benefit that provides tuition assistance, which she uses for additional living expenses while she is in college.

The type and amount of educational benefits veterans are entitled to vary depending on which branch of the military the service person is a member of—Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard or Reserves—as well as his or her state of residence. However, all service members are entitled to the Federal Montgomery GI Bill, which will be changed to the Post 9/11 GI Bill in August.

Currently, the Montgomery GI Bill can be applied to either private or public colleges, though the lump sum of money does not cover nearly as much at private institutions as it does at state colleges. The new GI bill is expected to lure additional recruits, as it will have significantly expanded educational benefits.

“I’m really happy about the new GI bill and all of its benefits,” Sauvageau said. “The housing benefits being added will really help me out.”

“It would have been cool to go somewhere private, but it’s free for me to go to a public school,” Rowland said. “It would have been a waste of money for me to go to a private school. Most people in the Army don’t have money to waste.”

Veterans who attend private colleges still receive veterans benefits but often have to work, either full-time or part-time, to help pay for the portion of tuition that is not covered by their veterans benefits. Like regular students, they apply for financial aid and loans.

Like many Americans now, Joshua Sauvageau, a U.S. Navy veteran and senior audio arts and acoustics major,  enlisted because he felt serving in the military would help him determine his “future life path” and provide him with job stability and a steady paycheck. The six years he spent in the U.S. Navy did just that. Sauvageau said he left the military with a new perspective about being in college. He sees his time in college with a new level of commitment and dedication. After graduating from Columbia, he plans to attend graduate school.

Like Edwards, Sauvageau said he would like Columbia to provide more visible information for veterans.

“There is virtually no information put out there for or about veterans,” Sauvageau said. “It would be nice to see the school do more to highlight the military community that is here.”

E.J. Talbot, Columbia counselor and Veterans’ Affairs representative, works with every veteran at Columbia, helping each of them understand their educational benefits and assisting them with any additional military-related issues.

“During any given semester we have about 70 students who are eligible for veterans’ benefits,” Talbot said. “Of those 70 or so students, about 40 percent of them are sons or daughters of disabled veterans. Their parents earned that benefit for them the hard way.”

This semester, the numbers are slightly lower than average. Talbot said 46 students are currently using veterans’ benefits to help fund their tuition. Of those 46 students, 19 are veterans who are receiving standard, chapter 30 GI bill funds. Nine of the veterans are disabled veterans, two are Reservists or National Guardsmen who have spent one or more years serving in an active duty capacity and one is a Reservist or National Guardsman who has not spent one or more serving in an active duty capacity.

“Not counting the disabled veterans, the dependents are almost as numerous as the people who were actually in the service,” Talbot said. “The ratio used to be much different on the old GI bill. When school was cheaper and the GI bill was just a lump sum, the money went a lot farther.”

Talbot said despite recent efforts at both the federal and state levels to increase and revamp veterans’ benefits, it is unlikely that veterans’ state-based tuition assistance will ever cover the cost of private school tuition.

“Even if the state of Illinois somehow decided to give a state benefit to veterans that covered 50 percent of the cost of a private school, that is still a heck of a lot of money,” Talbot said.

Although there is currently not a program in place at Columbia to help veterans fund tuition in its entirety, private colleges will soon be given the option to participate in a program that would make tuition more affordable for service members.

Under the Post 9/11 GI Bill, private colleges and universities will be able to enter into an agreement with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to waive up to half of the tuition and associated fees charged above and beyond that of the most expensive state-run institutions, through an initiative called The Yellow Ribbon Program. The U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs will then match the waived amount, thereby providing veterans with a significantly increased incentive to attend private colleges and universities.

However, colleges are not required to participate in the program. Due to the tumultuous nature of the stock market in recent months, many private schools have taken huge losses in long-term investments, and Veterans’ Affairs advocates worry that many private institutions will opt not to participate in the program due to the cost involved, Talbot said.

“Columbia has expressed interest in participating in the [Yellow Ribbon Program] but right now it is still up in the air,” Talbot said. “Now it comes down to number crunching.”

As for Edwards, he hopes to graduate from Columbia and eventually sees himself creating documentaries where he can incorporate his own story.

Go here to read more about Devon, Mica and Josh.