TIFTON – For the third consecutive year, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College has been honored by a national publication which measures best practices in military and veterans’ education. Military Advanced Education & Transition (MAE&T) has awarded ABAC the designation of a Top School for the third consecutive year in its 2016 Guide to Colleges & Universities.
From community colleges to state universities, online universities and nationally known centers of higher learning, the guide provides potential students with information about institutions that give back to our men and women in uniform.
“Being selected in this guide for a third consecutive year is a remarkable achievement for ABAC,” said Jessica Swords, Director of Student Accounts and Veterans Affairs Certifying Official. “Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is honored to be allowed to provide services to these students who have given so much to our country.”
ABAC received another milestone this year when Victory Media named the college as a 2016 Military Friendly School for the first time. The Military Friendly® ratings recognize colleges with leading programs for veterans, members of the Armed Forces leaving military service and military spouses.
“Veterans are graduates of the premier training institution in the world, but they need a consistent and predictable standard that lets them make good choices for major life decisions like where to work or where to enroll in school,” said Chris Hale, a Navy veteran and Chairman and Co-Founder of Victory Media. The mission of Military Friendly® is to create maximum professional opportunity for them and other members of the military community.”
For the MAE&T guide, institutions were evaluated on their military culture, financial aid, flexibility, general support, on-campus support and online support services. Each school’s performance rating by category is represented by an easy-to-recognize dashboard. This enables prospective students to quickly target schools that follow best practices in military education, and then put these in context with other academic or career considerations.
With input from an advisory board of educational and government experts, and criteria based on recommendations from the VA and military services, the guide provides the foundational information a prospective student would use in framing his or her educational needs.
“Our goal is to be a dynamic resource for active service members and those who have moved from the military to their civilian careers, helping them find the school that best fits their plans for the future,” said Kelly Fodel, editor for Military Advanced Education & Transition. “While we realize that all schools are unique, we focus our annual survey on the best practices that make a true difference to service members and student veterans. These best practices have been asserted by various higher education groups and reinforced by veteran groups, and we consider our survey to be the most detailed and informative in the industry.”
Visit www.mae-kmi.com for online access to the guide, or pick up a copy of the December issue of Military Advanced Education & Transition.
“These accolades presented to the college help to illustrate the level of commitment that ABAC has for our veteran students,” Swords said. “It is important that they realize we are here for them and want to help them achieve their higher education goals. The addition of the Veterans Success Center this year is just one of the many improvements that ABAC is committed to when it comes to our veterans.”
This year nearly 400,000 active duty, National Guard and Armed Forces Reserve service members will transition to campuses and companies nationwide. For more information, interested persons can visit ABAC at www.abac.edu. Military Friendly ratings, lists and program information are available for free at https://militaryfriendly.com.