kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and KilleenUniversities Ready For Incoming Soldiers

COLLEGE STATION (KCEN)-  Many who served in Iraq are working out their next steps in life and for some, that will mean going to school.

The transition can be difficult going from combat to the classroom, but two local universities are making it easier on vets returning from the battlefield.

After nine years in the Air Force veteran Allyn Robertson is at the desk at Texas A&M University.

"My experience was great in the Air Force, I got to deploy and meet a lot of individuals," Robertson said. "That was the hardest part for me was transitioning in to college life and civilian life."

He's not alone with the war in Iraq over more than 40,000 veterans return home and for many the next step is getting  a college degree.

"Being a sergeant major in the military where you are pretty much in charge of everything to being a freshman in college is a huge, huge change," retired Army veteran Thad Smith said.

New clubs at Blinn College and advisors at A&M are helping to make the transition just a little easier.

"And get them in to school, help them get direction in their life so that they can get on with the better art of their life and move on," Michael Hawkins of the Blinn Veterans Club said.

"Now when veterans move back, for many, they want to get that degree…so schools and universities make it as easy as possible for them to pay for it"


"Blinn College afford all the chapters that are out there for veterans affairs," Darrell Reimer of Blinn financial aid said.

Chapters like the G.I. bill and post 9/11 G.I. bill, federal funds pay for tuition, books and even housing.

In additions for Texas vets the Hazelwood Act gives them 150 free class hours and books.

With the full time veteran advisors on hand the process is actually pretty simple.

"If the veteran provides the records that are required, we are able to run them through the system rapidly," Hawkins said.

So the worry of  getting out the paperwork, "where will I go, where will I live?" is now not so much of a hassle for veterans like Robertson.

Both Blinn and A&M expect veteran enrollment to double.