In addition, Fordham leaped to No. 57 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best colleges for veterans, released earlier this fall.

The two rankings reflect Fordham’s many efforts to meet all student veterans’ needs—from career development to health and wellness to help with the transition to college life, said Matthew Butler, PCS ’16, senior director of the Office of Military and Veterans’ Services at Fordham.

“We’re engaged on multiple fronts,” he said. “We’re not just offering an education but supporting the full student veteran life cycle.”

The recognition coincides with rising enrollment numbers for veterans: The number of new student veterans who enrolled at Fordham this fall is up 131% over fall 2023, and the 470 student veterans and veterans’ dependents now enrolled marks the highest total in at least five years, noted Andrea Marais, Fordham’s director of military and veteran higher education, engagement, and transition.

Free Tuition for Student Vets: No Cap

Likely important for the rankings, Butler said, was Fordham’s decision last year to eliminate its cap on tuition benefits under the federal government’s Yellow Ribbon Program/Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. The University covers 100% of tuition and fees for eligible student veterans or their dependents

He said the Military Times ranking was particularly welcome because of the publication’s presence on military bases and stations around the world. In its ranking, Military Times cited other things like Fordham’s Veterans Promise program, which guarantees undergraduate admission to the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS) for students who graduated from New York high schools with a 3.0 and meet other standards.

Butler also noted Fordham’s career-focused events for student veterans such as the Veterans on Wall Street symposium that Fordham will host on Nov. 7. “Veterans make great hires,” said Butler. “They can make good decisions under pressure, they know how to build a team, and they are not afraid of hard work.”

Commander’s Cup

The Military Times ranking closely follows an event that highlighted the University’s tightly knit military-connected community. On Saturday, Oct. 26, Fordham hosted nearly 700 students in Junior ROTC programs from 17 area high schools for the annual Commander’s Cup competition.

The event included drill competitions, physical fitness tests, and tours of Fordham’s Rose Hill campus, as well as opportunities to learn about the ROTC program at Fordham and its scholarship opportunities, said Lt. Col. Rob Parsons, professor of military science at Fordham.

Students at the event were able to see that there’s “an affordable way to go to school and continue to serve,” he said.

“I don’t think it can be overstated how robust and integrated the veterans community in New York is, and how many ties exist to Fordham and Fordham grads,” he said.

Student Veterans of America Build Community

Members of Fordham’s Student Veterans of America chapter volunteered at the event, fielding questions from JROTC members, said Rico Lucenti, a student in PCS and chapter member.

“A lot of kids came up to the booth asking about the veteran presence and military-connected families on Fordham’s campus and what Fordham is doing for those families and students,” he said.

Jorge Ferrara, a PCS student and SVA chapter president, said the chapter arranges service and social events that help student veterans transition to college.

“What we’re doing is trying to establish a sense of community and bring everybody together so everybody knows we’re all going through the same thing,” he said.

A Veterans Day Mass will be celebrated at the Rose Hill campus on Sunday, Nov. 10, the day before Veterans Day. Other upcoming events for Fordham’s student-veteran community include the RamVets Fall Social on Friday, Nov. 8.

The inaugural Victory Bell ceremony is “something special to recognize our student veterans in a way that shows our gratitude for their service,” said Matthew Butler, the University’s director of military and veterans’ services. While ringing the bell, each veteran also wore a newly created medallion—given to all graduating veterans—that had just been conferred in a ceremony in Keating Hall.

The May 17 ceremony marked another effort to embrace military veterans and make them feel welcome and supported at Fordham, consistently ranked among the top military-friendly Yellow Ribbon universities by Military Times.

Butler noted that the Victory Bell is one of many military symbols around Rose Hill. Traditionally rung to celebrate Ram athletic victories, the bell was taken from a Japanese aircraft carrier and was presented to the University by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz in 1944 in remembrance of lives lost in the conflict.

The Victory Bell ceremony “recognizes more than just the completing of the requirements for your degree,” Butler said in the Keating Hall ceremony. “We recognize the whole person today. Today’s graduates are special,” he said, for taking the path of military service—“a path less traveled”—on their way to college graduation.

More than half of service members and veterans name educational opportunities as one reason for joining, he said, and noted the many first-generation college students enrolled in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies.

“Today marks the end of one chapter of our lives, and for most all of you, I suspect part of [your]continued journey is service—service to our nation, to our communities, to the men and women of the world. For we are men and women for others. It’s part of our Jesuit education and ethos,” said Butler, PCS ’17, a member of the Class of 2019 who is completing a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership.

Another speaker was Wesley Wilson, president of the Fordham Veterans Association, who described his initial trepidation at leaving the service. He wondered if anything else would be as fulfilling, “but Fordham quickly assuaged any of my concerns,” he said. “As you walk around campus … you quickly get a sense that there’s something different about Fordham.”

“The mantra of cura personalis, or care for the whole person, has given Fordham a very special place in my heart,” he said. “It was through Fordham that I was given the opportunity to continue serving—this time, my fellow student veterans.”

A Family Occasion

Nineteen graduating veterans, including Butler, took part in the ceremony, joined by friends and family members. Wilson had 14 family members make the trip from South Carolina for his graduation from the School of Professional and Continuing Studies with a bachelor’s degree. He ascended the steps to the Victory Bell with his 9-year-old nephew, Preston, who gave the clapper a good, strong tug.

Butler, invoking a common Jesuit expression, exhorted the graduating veterans to “go and set the world on fire.”

“Set it on fire with your continued service, with your compassion, with your conscientiousness, with your care for your fellow man, with the zeal that you learned in the military to take on all challenges, large and small.”

He named several new efforts carried out with student veterans’ help, like expanding the orientation for new student veterans from one hour to a full day and holding it at both the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses. Other initiatives include a student veteran career ambassadors program, a disability services program, and an online checklist for veterans making the transition to college.

Another new initiative provides services and support for student veterans’ spouses and children.

“A huge thanks must be given to our families, who support us through this academic journey,” Butler said. “Today we say thank you, because we couldn’t do it without you.”

Michael Gillan, Ph.D., associate vice-president and co-chair of FordhamVets Task Group, was in the middle of New York’s Veterans Day Parade on a Fordham sponsored float when he got the news.

“What veterans share in common coming back from any conflict is that they want to get on with their lives,” said Gillan. “They want to get on with being students.”

He added that the University’s commitment to the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program no doubt played a role. The program was an optional provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill passed in 2009 and is considered the most comprehensive expansion of veteran education benefits since World War II.

Even though there is a national cap on the Yellow Ribbon benefits, the University has bypassed the limit and increased its Yellow Ribbon commitment to cover all tuition and fees for Post-9/11 veterans, he said.

“We are once again able to say ‘Top 25,'” said Gillan. “Plus, this is the fourth consecutive year that Fordham is the #1-rated private school in the metropolitan region.”

–Tom Stoelker

Fordham came in at No. 23, rising from No. 55 in 2010 and from No. 34 in 2011.

Michael Gillan, Ph.D., associate vice-president and co-chair of FordhamVets Task Group, said the magazine’s 30-page 2012 questionnaire allowed space to added narrative content detailing improvements in the program—of which Fordham had many to report. He added that nearly 650 schools responded to the magazine’s survey.

The improved standing stems in part from the University’s commitment to the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program, an optional provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill passed by Congress in 2009. The bill is considered the most comprehensive expansion of veteran education benefits since World War II.

Even though there is a national cap on the Yellow Ribbon benefits, the University has bypassed the limit and increased its commitment to cover all tuition and fees for Post-9/11 veterans.

Fordham was among the very first institutions to sign on to the program. In the most most recent 2011-12 academic year, the University’s Yellow Ribbon expenditure exceeded $300,000, and in the year ahead it is expected to reach $800,000. Enrollment by veterans across the University has shot up from a pre-2009 average of about 30 veterans, to a fall 2012 enrollment of 287.

Gillan added that one of the keys to the FordhamVet program’s success is that, although opportunities for affiliations with other veterans abound, student-veterans are by no means required to participate.

“What veterans share in common coming back from any conflict is that they want to get on with their lives,” said Gillan. “Although they want to be appreciated and recognized, many don’t want to be defined by the [service]experience.”

“They want to get on with being students.”