Central Lakes College, Brainerd and Staples, is among the nation's top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools doing the most to embrace America's veterans as students.
Victory Media, the veteran-owned publisher of Military Spouse and Vetrepreneur magazines, in its publication G.I. Jobs, named CLC with 30 other military friendly Minnesota schools earning the designation through a research process driven by an academic advisory board of officials from Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, Colorado State, other universities, the American Council on Education, and the Veterans Administration.
Student veterans are advised to examine the list of military friendly schools.
CLC and others on the list provide additional benefits to student veterans, such as credit for military experience and the College Level Examination Program. CLC offers on-campus resource centers in Brainerd and Staples and a network of support services and academic accreditations.
One reason the college is "an excellent choice for military members," according to G.I. Jobs, is a course called "From Combat to the Classroom - the Transition of Combat Veterans and Their Families."
Don Pfeffer, instructor, teaches the course for veterans, family members and anyone else with a strong interest in the military.
Pfeffer developed the Veterans Resource Center at CLC as a model for 60 centers established on public and private colleges and universities across the state. He is the state director of higher education programs through the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs.
The military friendly schools list is at www.militaryfriendlyschools.com/2011list and includes 1,222 institutions across the United States.
The Veterans Resource Center provides information and support to veterans, military members, their families and community members and is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or by appointment. For information contact Deb Dewey in the center at 218-855-8279.
