When junior Nathan Seiver returned from Afghanistan as a member of the Marine 2nd Battalions weapon company, he had a revelation.
“I came to realize what education meant to me,” Seiver said.
Many public colleges, Seiver said, are destructive to the freedom he fought for in the province of Helmand in southern Afghanistan.
Yet he almost did not come to Hillsdale College because on the school’s non-Title IV status.
Title IV is a mandate that regulates any college that accepts federal financial aid. Title IV consists of roughly 300 pages of regulations that can lead to fines and imprisonment for schools and school officials that don’t comply. The GI Bill is federal aid. No Title IV means no GI Bill.
There is an irony there, said Financial Services Director Rich Moeggenberg.
“We are a very patriotic school,” Moeggenberg said.
What Seiver hadn’t realized yet is that Hillsdale replaces the GI Bill with what is called the Patriot Scholarship.
“That’s the commitment we make to veterans,” Moeggenberg said.
Seiver, now in his third year at Hillsdale College, is a recipient of the Perkin Scholarship, which is part of the Patriot Scholarship. This scholarship, coming out of southern California, pays for tuition, room and board, a 200-block meal plan, and a stipend for books.
Seiver is one of 10 veterans currently attending Hillsdale, and all of them receive full-tuition aid with the Patriot Scholarship.
Before the financial aid department can hand out any aid, veterans have to discover Hillsdale and apply. This can be tricky, Director of Admissions Jeff Lantis, said.
By not taking federal money, Hillsdale College does not get much attention at transition stations, where returning veterans meet with officers to discuss how to use their educational benefits.
“We don’t show up on their eligibility lists,” Lantis said.
In an effort to attract veterans who are also qualified students, Lantis and his team of admission counselors have been working to put out more information on the Patriot Scholarships.
This push has resulted in more applications from veterans and more giving to that fund by donors, many of whom are veterans themselves.
“A lot of veterans want to help,” Lantis said. “Military families like to have veterans come to Hillsdale.”
Today at least 20 donors are providing full-tuition scholarships to potentially 12 veteran-students by January 2013. Originally just five or six donors provided money for veterans.
“Between the last five and 10 years the scholarships have grown,” Moeggenberg said.
Fortunately, for the veterans who attend Hillsdale, their GI Bill benefits are not relinquished, and they can still use their GI Bills after graduation.
“The GI Bill is still there,” Seiver said. “The GI Bill is good for 15 years.”
Seiver, like many Hillsdale veterans, plans to use the money for graduate school. He is considering attending Pepperdine University and pursuing a career as a statesman’s assistant.
Iraq War veteran James Markman ‘12 is currently using the GI Bill to finance medical school.
Administrators and veterans alike are pleased by this kind of “double-dipping”.
“We certainly support the military,” Lantis said. “And I can think of no better use of my tax dollars.”