Military marketing company Victory released the 2018-19 Military Friendly schools list in early April, recognizing Long Beach City College (LBCC) and Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) among multiple other California campuses.
LBCC was recognized as a “bronze” school. According to LBCC spokeswoman Stacey Toda, there are about 700 veterans using their education benefits, though the school estimates 1,200 to 1,300 are currently enrolled but with expired benefits.
According to the Military Friendly website, Bronze award winners have programs that scored within 40 percent of the 10th-ranked institution within a given category. Silver award winners have programs that scored within 30 percent and gold winners scored within 20 percent.
CSULB was labeled as a “designated” school which falls underneath the bronze designees. CSULB Veterans Services Director Marshall Thomas said there are currently 576 veterans enrolled on campus with another 570 dependents of veterans using their benefits.
The site measures a school’s commitment, effort and success in creating sustainable and meaningful benefits for the military community.
Military Friendly features schools on their website that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members, veterans and spouses as students and ensure their success on campus, according to the site.
They first define what it means for an employer or institution to be military friendly, then measure how well an institution’s military recruiting program does in three primary areas:
- Engages the prospective military student or employee in a recruiting environment.
- Educates the military student or employee once he or she is part of the company or school.
- Employs the military student or employee in meaningful employment.
To view other schools named on the list, click here.