Governor Bobby Jindal is pushing for a new bill to attract military and veteran students to all Louisiana Universities, but with higher education buckling under millions of dollars in budget cuts, Nicholls has been doing just that on their own.

The bill will recognize Louisiana with a “Governor’s Veterans Friendly Campus Designation,” which is recognition for going above and beyond in creating a supportive environment for veteran and military students. To gain this designation, Universities will also have to adopt the Military Articulation Matrix.

This “matrix,” by Senator Ben Nevers, would require all universities to “create articulation arrangements with regionally accredited like institutions (2 or 4 year) that currently hold a contract with the Department of Defense to provide education services at various military bases around the world.” This is to ensure that college credit is given for skills and trades learned while serving in the military, and to streamline the transfer process. These arrangements could pose a problem to higher education, which has already endured a $470 million budget cut since Jindal took office in 2008.

“To meet these cuts in the past, we have cut some of the positions that would be doing that work,” said Murphy, “We are not in a position to go out and evaluate 1,700 schools to have articulation agreements.”

Both policies are needed across the country for our men and women serving in the military who have come home and want to further their education, especially since over 5 million service members are expected to transfer out of the military within the next five years according to The American Council on Education. In 2014, the 59 percent that returned to school received veteran benefits, which is an estimated $4,000 per semester.

Nicholls presently has 225 veterans on campus, not including those that are not using the GI bill. That is around $900,000 received from veterans and military members alone, but President Murphy does not see that as a reason for Universities to gain designation.

“One of the reasons that schools want to be military friendly is because of the tuition assistance dollars that comes with it,” said Murphy. “I don’t think that’s the right reason to do it, though. It’s a great second order consequence, but I think it should be done to have programs that serve military folks and veterans.”

Nicholls has been recognized for six years as a Military Friendly School by GI Jobs magazine, an honor given annually to only the top 15 percent of American universities for providing its active military and veterans students the best support, flexibility and value for active duty service members. Veterans Coordinator Gilberto Burbante, who helps military students with everything from transcripts down to mentoring, said that Nicholls already does a lot of things outlined in the bill, but he is glad to see the Governor recognizing a need for it.

Burbante said if anything, Universities need to hire more veterans for their programs so students can have someone to relate to while they transition back to school.

“It’s going to sound ridiculous,” said Burbante, “but school can be harder than being in active duty. I used to tell my wife and friends ‘Dude, I’d rather be getting shot at than be writing an essay.’ And a lot of these guys sympathize with that statement. It’s just a different beast when it comes to school. I’m always certain that Nichols is ahead of the game when it comes to providing services to veterans. I’m confident in saying that.”

As far as transferring credits, Murphy said that the “easy screen” would be transfers from accredited schools, but what these students have already taken, learned and are able to do is what needs to be evaluated for due credit.

“You may come in, take some tests, demonstrate a portfolio and get credit that way,” said Murphy. “I’d like for us to move in that direction.”

Murphy said that would take a little extra administrative work, but why not take advantage of the millions of dollars the military spends on training and education?

Marcus Robertson, a junior in public relations, came back from active duty in Jan. 2014 and has been working towards getting his degree nonstop since. He said he never tried to get any of his credits transferred because they do not really apply to what he is working towards now, but he was offered a wide variety of training to choose from when he signed up.

“Linguists, broadcasting, cooks, anything you can think of, they can train you for in the military,” Robertson said.

Robertson said the veterans program at Nicholls introduced him to others vets he could relate to, helped him out with books and classes and they are even coordinating Spring Break as a group this year. He said he doesn’t know what it’s like in other Universities, but here it’s personal and very supportive.

“You can talk to them,” said Robertson. “You can bounce back ideas, and they really do help you a lot. It’s like if you ever need something, just let us know.”

Robertson says he thinks this new bill would help attract more veterans to Louisiana schools, and it could be seen as a good political move on the governor’s part.

“I think that could be possible since we’re in the state of mind and people are more patriotic than before and supporting the troops,” said Robertson. “Him making efforts toward benefiting the veterans, I guess that’ a good political move on his part.”