Ocean County College receives Military Friendly School recognition again

Ocean County College has been named a 2015 Military Friendly School by Victory Media, a service-disabled, veteran-owned business that has been serving the military community since 2001. The local school, which supports veterans, active duty personnel and their families, received the honor last year as well.

Photo via Ocean County College
The school offers assistance to military members.

The designation is given to the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools across the United States that are “doing the most to embrace military students, and to dedicate resources to ensure their success in the classroom and after graduation,” a release states.

According to the report, Military Friendly provides service members with transparent, data-driven ratings about post-military education and career prospects. The designation process includes extensive research and a data-driven survey of nationwide schools approved for Post-9/11 GI Bill funding. The survey incorporates over 50 leading practices in supporting military students and is available for free to the more than 8,000 post-secondary schools approved for funding.

“The methodology used for making the Military Friendly Schools list has changed the student veteran landscape to one much more transparent, and has played a significant role over the past six years in capturing and advancing best practices to support military students across the country,” the release states.

Ocean County, which includes part of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is home to the biggest veterans population in New Jersey. The joint base spans more than 20 miles from east to west and 42,000 contiguous acres across Ocean and Burlington counties, the two largest in New Jersey.

OCC’s Financial Aid Office helps military students and their families access educational funding with the particular benefits offered by each division of service.

Veterans, active-duty military members and dependents of deceased or disabled veterans may qualify for monthly educational assistance from the Veterans Administration while enrolled at OCC.

For more information, visit ocean.edu or call Robert Mather, OCC veterans coordinator, at 732-255-0400, extension 2330.

— Kelley Anne Essinger

This article was published in The SandPaper.