Confused by all of the “military friendly colleges” lists out there? Us, too! They all use slightly different methodologies with, in some cases, wildly different results. So we’ve gone ahead, compiled the lists and analyzed them here to help make sense of it all. The result is Military Friendly Colleges: The Definitive List.
To be fair, we didn’t create an actual list. Instead, we took the existing ranking from various websites and analyzed them to provide to you the schools that appeared most often on the lists.
What does it mean to be a “military friendly college”?
But before we get to the list, we think it’s important to understand what does “military friendly” or “veteran friendly” even mean? Is it general respect for the military? Does it mean affordability and flexibility for military/veteran students? Does it refer to facilities specifically for veterans?
Not surprisingly, there is a lot of overlap in the criteria used to determine how “military friendly” a school is. Based on the shared elements of their methodologies, we’ve come to something that looks like a definition.
Defining “Military Friendly College”
Most shared criteria. The School –
- is a Yellow Ribbon Program Participant
- has Veteran Student Organization/Association
- offers Flexibility and Affordability to accommodate military/veteran students – Awards Credit for Service, Credit for CLEP Exams
Some also mentioned –
- a dedicated military/veteran student counselor(s)
- dedicated military/veteran facilities (on-campus or virtual)
- other policy agreements (8 Keys to Veteran Success, Principles of Excellence)
By the way, all of this info can be found within the school profiles in CollegeRecon’s search tool.
Now that we have a sense of what a military friendly college is, here’s an analysis of the different lists.
Military Friendly Colleges
Multiple Top 10 Finishers
These schools were only three that finished in the Top 10 of more than one Military Friendly Colleges list.
*Note: number of appearances indicated by number in parentheses.
| University of Southern California (USC) (3) |
| Liberty University (2) |
| University of South Florida (2) |
Schools Appearing More Than Once on Full Lists
These schools finished in the Top 50 of more than one Military Friendly Colleges list.
4 Appearances in Top 50
3 Appearances in Top 50
2 Appearances in Top 50
| Arizona State University (2) |
| Armstrong State University (2) |
| Central Georgia Technical College (2) |
| Colorado State University – Global Campus (2) |
| Fayetteville Technical Community College (2) |
| Florida State University (2) |
| Liberty University (2) |
| Mississippi State University (2) |
| National University (2) |
| Northern Michigan University (2) |
| Penn State – Greater Allegheny (2) |
| Rutgers University – Camden (2) |
| South Dakota State University (2) |
| Texas Tech University (2) |
| University of Dubuque (2) |
| University of Florida (2) |
| University of Kentucky (2) |
| University of Maryland – University College (2) |
| University of Michigan (2) |
| University of Nebraska – Lincoln (2) |
| University of Northwestern Ohio (2) |
| University of West Florida (2) |
Here are the different lists that we evaluated from each of the different organizations.
Military Times – Best For Vets
| D’Youville College |
| University of South Florida |
| Armstrong State University |
| Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey |
| The University of Kansas |
| Syracuse University |
| Colorado State University |
| The University of Nebraska at Omaha |
| Georgia State University |
| University of Central Oklahoma |
US News and World Report
| Stanford |
| Dartmouth |
| Cornell |
| Georgetown University |
| University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) |
| University of Southern California (USC) |
| Carnegie Mellon |
| University of Virginia |
| University of Michigan – Ann Arbor |
| New York University (NYU) |
Bestcolleges
| University of Florida |
| North Carolina State – Raleigh |
| Central Florida |
| Texas A&M |
| Northeastern |
| University of Minnesota – Twin Cities |
| University of Southern California (USC) |
| Penn State |
| University of Nebraska – Lincoln |
| Missouri University of Science and Technology |
LendEDU
| Liberty University |
| George Washington University |
| Colorado Technical |
| Penn State World Campus |
| Regent University |
| Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University |
| National University |
| Utah State University |
| Hawaii Pacific University |
| University of Massachusetts – Lowell |
GuideToOnlineSchools
| University of Maryland University College |
| Arizona State University |
| Liberty University |
| Southern New Hampshire University Online |
| Old Dominion University |
| University of Southern California (USC) |
| Ohio State University-Main Campus |
| University of Arizona |
| University of South Florida – Main Campus |
| George Mason University |
Militaryfriendly – GI Jobs
| Large community college |
| Front Range Community College |
| Leeward Community College |
| Fayetteville Technical Community College |
| Cuyahoga Community College |
| Central Georgia Technical College |
| Small community college |
| Tarrant County College (Trinity River Campus) |
| CUNY Hostos Community College |
| Savannah Technical College |
| Mercer County Community College |
| SUNY Ulster County Community College |
| Small public |
| Lyndon State College |
| Penn State Greater Allegheny |
| Penn State Mont Alto |
| Northern Michigan University |
| York College-CUNY |
| Private not offering Doctorate |
| The College of Saint Rose |
| Life Support Training Institute |
| Olivet College |
| University of Northwestern Ohio |
| Southwestern University |