Both the Salina Area Technical College and Cloud County Community College are among the higher education institutions recently receiving Military Friendly® designations.
The two institutions were named Military Friendly® schools by militaryfriendly.com. The website is owned by VIQTORY, a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business, according to the militaryfriendly.com website.
The Military Friendly® list is created each year based on both public data sources and surveys sent to colleges. The process ranks more than 8,800 colleges and universities nationwide. Factors that go into the rankings include student retention, graduation rates, job placement, loan repayment and default rates for both the entire student population and specifically for student veterans.
This is the fifth consecutive year that Salina Tech has received the designation.
In 2017, Salina Tech partnered with the Kansas National Guard to create a program called “Synchronous Training and Academic Credit,” in which soldiers training at the National Guard’s Regional Training Institute in Salina can earn college credit for their military training.
The first of these STAC agreements was for the military’s Allied Trade Specialist program, which combines welding and machining. The college has similar agreements for Utilities Equipment Repairer training, which aligns with the Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning program.
By combining the college credits earned for their military training and taking some general education courses through Salina Tech, soldiers can earn an Associate of Applied Science degree.
“We are honored to receive this distinction,” said Dr. Adrian Douglas, CCCC president. “We are proud to serve our military population and their families, and we work hard to ensure their success both in the classroom and after graduation.”
For more information about Cloud County’s student veteran programs, visit Cloud’s website at www.cloud.edu/students/veteranservices.
You can see the entire list of Military Friendly® designated higher education institutions at militaryfriendly.com.