Manchester Community College Named Military Friendly School by Victory Media

MANCHESTER, Conn. (September 9, 2016) – Great news for veterans in the area: Manchester Community College has been named a Military Friendly school by Victory Media, Inc., for 2017.

The list pays homage to the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to accommodate America’s military service members, veterans and spouses as students and ensure their success on campus.

MCC has been recognized since 2012 for its services to veterans. The college again earned the rights to the prestigious Military Friendly designation due to its outstanding scores on a survey assessment of some 12,000 schools across the nation, according to Jonathan D. Ramos, coordinator of the Veterans OASIS (Operation Academic Support for Incoming Service Members) at MCC.

The Veterans OASIS is a dedicated space that provides services and programs such as tutoring, readjustment support, Veterans Professional Development Days, Veterans Advising Week and resources to assist with textbooks, school supplies, and even personal needs from rent assistance, grocery store cards and bus passes to waivers of course-fee payments.

MCC’s Veterans OASIS is a key scoring point for achieving Military Friendly designation, whose criteria get more rigorous every year, Ramos said.

“Survey questions cover a range of issues such as whether we have the dedicated space, as well as the size of our veteran population, top majors for veterans, how much we market the veteran aspect of MCC, financial aid available to veterans and more,” he said.

Ramos pointed out that over the last several years, MCC has been expanding its support services for veterans, who face unique challenges in higher education.

In addition to the Veterans OASIS, which is frequented by some 25 to 30 local veterans a day as they integrate into the college experience, the college most recently instituted its Veteran-II-Veteran Peer Mentorship program (V-II-V) with the help of a grant from Glastonbury, Conn.-based Monaco Ford last year.

V-II-V is designed to assist veterans and service members with their transition to MCC and to cultivate a connection with faculty, staff and their peers through a structured peer mentoring system.

“Thanks to the Monaco Ford grant, V-II-V comprises four components to help ensure veteran students succeed at MCC: peer mentoring; academic support and recognition; community engagement and service; and leadership development,” Ramos said. “V-II-V is a very important part of MCC, because it helps to ease the transition for many types of new students. Whether that is someone coming straight from the service or someone who has been in civilian life for a while, the benefits are undeniable.”

In addition, the MCC VETS (Veterans Empowering Themselves to Succeed) Club holds monthly meetings. VETS is an on-campus club that assists local veterans and their dependents to network, and it also serves as a liaison for the veterans’ community outside the college. The VETS Club advisor is Professor Bobbi Fox, who can be reached at 860-512-2769, or by email at bfox@manchestercc.edu.

MCC VETS is supported in part by the East Hartford Women’s Club, which also has supported MCC’s student veterans for years with funding for the OASIS as well as school supplies.

For more information on veterans services at MCC, contact Ramos at 860-512-3375, or by email at jramos@manchestercc.edu.