SRU named a Top 10 ‘Military Friendly School’ for 11th consecutive year
Slippery Rock University has earned 2020-21 Military Friendly Gold status as a top 10 school.
Feb. 20, 2020
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Last year, Slippery Rock University found themselves recipients of a silver award, but this year it has gone for, and captured, the gold -- as in a gold award for being one the most military friendly schools in the country. In fact, SRU ranks third in the nation on a list of Military Friendly Schools, which recognizes colleges and universities for serving their military and veteran students. SRU earned its 2020-21 Military Friendly Gold status as a top 10 school in the "Small Public School" category, which features public universities with fewer than 10,000 students. SRU has achieved Military Friendly honors every year since 2010.
The Military Friendly Schools survey is administered by VIQTORY, a veteran-owned company that assists individuals in their transition from active service to civilian life. Only 737 post-secondary institutions were named Military Friendly for 2020-21 following VIQTORY's assessment of 8,800 schools nationwide. The prestigious list provides a comprehensive guide for veterans and their families using data sources from federal agencies, veteran students and proprietary survey information from participating organizations.
"Military Friendly status reinforces SRU's commitment to helping our student veterans transition from the military to college life, and ultimately, satisfying careers in the civilian world," said George McDowell, SRU recruitment and retention strategist/veterans certifying official, who also serves as a co-chair of SRU's President's Commission for Veteran and Military Affairs. "We're proud to continually receive this recognition because it shows that we are exceeding the national standards and helping student veterans be successful."
SRU exceeded the national standards in all six categories that VIQTORY uses to assess institutions and that it deems to be critical in helping veterans thrive on campus and later in the workplace. Most notably, SRU exceeded the standard in the Military Student Support & Retention category by 83%, followed by Culture & Commitment (79%), Academic Policies & Compliance (78%) and Admissions & Orientation (78%) categories.
There are more than 130 students at SRU who identify as veterans and nearly 430 military-affiliated students who are either reservists, activity duty military, contracted ROTC cadets or dependents in military families. The retention rate for veteran and military students at SRU is 87.5% at the conclusion of their first year, exceeding the rates among all SRU students. Graduation rates for reservists, military dependent students and veteran and military students, are more than 72% and exceed the rates for all students.
For more information about veterans services at SRU, click here.
To see the complete list of 2020-21 Military Friendly schools, click here.
MEDIA CONTACT: Justin Zackal | 724.738.4854 | justin.zackal@sru.edu