Tons of schools and colleges across the United States claim to be military-friendly institutions. Some do a fantastic job of advertising this while others go out of their way to recruit veterans because let’s face it, it sure does wonders for your reputation as an institution.

But how can one really tell whether a school is truly military-friendly? Is it by the number of adverts they have about how military-friendly they are? Or should you go by how great their slogan is?

The answer is neither. In order to determine whether a school is actually military-friendly, you have to dig a lot deeper into what they can offer you as an institution.

Captain Robert Prah said in one of his articles that before you decide to enroll in an institution, you need to ask the right questions:

­   Does the school have a Veteran’s center or club?

­   How many other Veterans attend the institution?

­   Does the school have priority scheduling?

­   Will the school accept all of your military education and training credits from your Joint Services Transcript?

­   What is the policy for withdrawing due to a deployment or mobilization?

Simply put, military-friendly schools are schools that offer courses that help veterans to find gainful employment while still offering flexibility to those who are often deployed.  Military-friendly schools also offer programs that are approved by the VA for using the GI Bill.

Let us take a look at a few key features that military-friendly schools should have in common:

1. Adhering to the SOC’s Military Student Bill of Rights

The Service members Opportunity Colleges created a Bill of Rights for military students in 2006. Every school that claims to be “military-friendly” is expected to adhere to these rights and provide equal opportunity to all veterans who wish to apply.

2. MyCAA Funding

The MyCAA program offers up to $4000 in financial aid for military spouse education. However, this funding is only applicable on certain MyCAA approved courses. Military-friendly schools should offer all MyCAA training programs that are approved. They should not only be beneficial to veterans but should also be able to provide career training for a military spouse.

A lot of online as well as brick-and-mortar career schools like Career Step (recognized by Victory Media as a military-friendly school) offer a variety of MyCAA approved courses.

Simply put, all MyCAA approved schools can be considered military-friendly.

3. Giving College Credit for Military Experience

The whole point of a military-friendly school is to make the transition back to school as smooth as possible for veterans. We all know that going back to school after a long gap is no cakewalk. Military-friendly schools should ideally give college credit to veterans for military experience in terms of factual knowledge as well as applied skills.

4. CLEP and DSST Exams for College Credit

A true military-friendly school should accept alternative sources of education like CLEP and DSST exams and should give veterans college credit for passing those examinations.

5. Memorandum of Understanding

The Department of Defense (DoD) requires all educational institutions claiming to be military-friendly to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to convey certain commitments and agreements between the school and the DoD before the institution can receive funds from a service’s TA program.

All such schools must sign the MOU in order to qualify as military-friendly.

So you see, a mere banner is not enough to make a school military-friendly. A lot of research must go into what the school can offer you as a veteran student before you decide to enroll with one.