Seeking to help fellow veteran students at Chapman, a group of U.S. military veteran students is advocating to improve Chapman’s Veterans Resource Center (VRC). Military-connected students can visit the VRC, located at 526 N. Shaffer St., to discuss their VA benefits and educational resources.

Steve Leader is the advisor for the Veterans Club and has been the VRC director since 2021. He makes sure students’ VA benefits are handled properly and that the funds make it to student business services. This is just one of Leader’s many responsibilities as VRC director.

He also ensures students are taking classes that are degree-applicable, helps military families navigate their benefits and is tasked with speaking to prospective students. 

“I try to make sure that a student gets a fair shake at whatever situation they may have because the typical veteran is not a typical undergrad student,” Leader told The Panther.

Leader also mentioned that the VRC now services the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) students as of a year ago. Services include answering any of the students’ questions and inviting them to the Veterans Cultural Graduation Ceremony. 

Sometimes, veterans unaffiliated with Chapman visit the VRC.

“Two weeks ago, I had a 70-year-old veteran from Vietnam,” Leader said. “He had a letter from the VA — a debt letter — and he was scared and didn't really know what to do. And I will never turn away someone, which is why we now have that placard as of a week and a half (ago) that says: ‘Hey, here's information for the Tierney Center, which is in Tustin and then also the Orange County Veteran Service Office.’ I'm always happy to talk to them.”

Leader also directs veterans to the Veteran Military Legal Institute, located in Tustin.

Since the establishment of the VRC in 2018, the population of Chapman students using these VA benefits has increased by 85%. 

“At the local 18 community colleges, which really isn't that far — maybe like a half an hour, 35 minutes in every direction — there's over 6,000 students using the GI bill,” Leader said. “And so, we should be at more than what we are currently at. We have about 185 students using the GI Bill. We should, at our size, be at 350, easily.”

Simón Londoño is in his first semester at Chapman as an executive master of business administration student, as well as a graduate assistant for enrollment management, working in the VRC. Londoño served in the Navy for four years and previously worked as an assistant director of veteran services at UC Irvine. 

Part of his responsibilities include assessing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits processing; here at Chapman, there are 184 students using VA educational benefits. Londoño is in the process of assembling a VRC Program Report he hopes to complete by the end of the year. The report will be sent to Chapman’s administration and will eventually be made public to students about how the VRC plans to improve its services for them. 

He has noted an issue of staffing at the VRC. Londoño stated that if the Chapman population of veteran and military-connected students was smaller, then the VRC’s responsibilities would be more manageable. 

“I think the problem is once you hit a 200-student cap, if you're not hiring another person, if you don't have another certified official, you're sort of maxing how much that person can do,” Londoño said. 

There is also unease that the current staffing could deter other military-connected students from getting involved or visiting the VRC.

“If Steve (Leader) is doing a recruiting event — because one of his jobs is to try to get more veterans to come to our school — that means this door's locked,” said Nick Irwin, a doctorate student and Navy veteran. “And that means that if I'm a new prospective student, or I'm just a student in crisis, I’m a student that needs to fulfill certain needs, nobody's here.”

Irwin continued: “And what has changed with that is now we have 13 VA work-study students that can help with that. But, our number one priority is being a student. That just kind of limits our hours that we can actually be here. We have other commitments that we're also trying to do as a club, and we're trying to extend to other communities on campus, so that will lead us to not also be here.”

According to the U.S. Department of VA School Certifying Official (SCO) Handbook, “In January 2020, VA recommended one (1) SCO full-time employee (FTE) for every 200 GI Bill students and/or dependents enrolled in the educational institution.  Effective December 5, 2023, VA revised the suggested ratio to one (1) SCO full-time employee (FTE) for every 125 GI Bill students and/or dependents enrolled in the educational institution. This change is due to increased complexity of monitoring and reporting GI Bill students.  This number should be adjusted as appropriate by the educational institution when the SCO’s duties are expanded beyond certifying GI Bill beneficiaries’ enrollments.”

“Since day one, the role of the director has been much more than that of a certifying official,” said Mike Pelly, the vice president and dean of enrollment at Chapman. “Our goal is to add an additional support position once we consistently enroll 200 students who are receiving benefits. We’re getting close to that number now.”

According to Leader, the VRC currently has a yearly budget of $4,500 and also received $2,000 this year from the Office of DEI.

Veteran students voice their concerns

Veterans Club President Karla “Roxie” Arce decided to take concerns to Chapman’s administration on the military-connected students’ behalf, but she was unsure of who to contact. She had difficulty discovering which office managed the VRC, so she took a military approach and reached out to the Dean of Students and the Provost’s office. 

Arce was directed to Chapman Dean of Enrollment Pelly, who manages the VRC. He shared his initial goals for the VRC.

“The primary goal at that time was to hire a certifying official to help veterans and military-connected students manage their benefits,” Pelly said. ”A secondary goal was to create a space for veterans and their families to congregate.”   

Arce found it “interesting” that the VRC falls under enrollment instead of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Irwin was curious as to why the VRC doesn’t “have a direct line to the president.” Pelly stated that the VRC is under enrollment because he advocated for a VRC years ago.

“I’ve served in my current position for over 15 years, and when the VRC was approved six years ago, there was lengthy discussion about where it should report,” Pelly said. “Because the role of the certifying official interacts with financial aid, registrar and admissions, it naturally landed under my division, these three departments report to me.”

Irwin mentioned how using their voice can be an uncomfortable experience for some veteran students.

The veteran community helped Arce compile items of concern to deliver to Pelly. Several of these raised concerns will be discussed in the following:

Spaces for veteran and military-connected students

According to the veterans’ presentation for Pelly, the VRC is 231 square feet. Chapman’s VRC does not meet California’s community college VRC requirements, which include having a computer lab of at least two computers and one printer, a minimum of 500 square feet and two private rooms for counseling and certifying, among others. 

“The center is there to provide pathways for career development or grad school development, so connecting students with internships (and) mentors,” Londoño said. “Because they shouldn't have to be worried like, ‘We need a bigger house, we need computers.’ That should just be guaranteed, right? Once those essential things are met, you can focus on creating those other pathways. And those things are really what puts a campus on the map. Because (Chapman is) not just military-friendly; they're military-thriving.”

Issues of privacy also warrant the unease surrounding their current location, which is mentioned in Londoño’s report. Personal information such as social security can be discussed in the VRC because it is correlated to VA services, hence the desire for a private office in the VRC.

Desires for a larger space that meets these requirements for the VRC have been presented to Pelly.

“The long-term goal has always been to create a larger and more accessible space for the VRC,” Pelly said. “The initial group of veterans who I worked with when we created the VRC six years ago wanted a space that was in a house as opposed to a traditional office setting, and I still believe that makes sense.”

Pelly continued: “I recently met with a group of veterans who requested a larger house and an office space somewhere on campus. With space at a premium, it’s not realistic to have both, but I continue to search for better options. I want the next move to provide a permanent home for the VRC, and I haven’t been able to find a suitable location that meets all our needs.”

Due to the VRC’s small size, the Veterans Club currently meets at the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics at 549 W. Palm Ave. in Room 121.

Orientation session for military-connected students

During freshman Orientation, there was no session mentioning the VRC or detailed information about VA education benefits. 

The same group of veteran students voiced their concerns about including these services in future freshmen orientations.

On Jan. 24, the VRC and Veterans Club tabled at the Academic & Student Services Fair, where both students and families could stop by for more information on veteran benefits. They could also set up an appointment to discuss any further questions. 

Additionally, on Jan. 25, the official spring orientation schedule included a two-hour session for military-connected students, who were introduced to VRC staff and Veterans Club leadership. Aside from a Q&A about VA benefits and financial aid, the session included information about applying for VA disability for CH 31 Veteran Readiness And Employment, as well as how to use both Chapman and off-campus resources. After the session, students had the opportunity to mingle with other military-connected students.

Further VRC comments

Londoño believes the VRC’s title does not adequately encompass the VRC’s aim for Chapman students.

“I don't like when a center says ‘veterans,’ only because there's so much more to that when we think about dependence,” Londoño said. “(Military families) were also in a military culture, right? And so they had to live in the bays. They had to do all the same things everybody had to do — obviously, they weren't active — and so it would be really cool to see a transition of the Veterans Resource Center to more of a Veterans and Military Families Center.”

Londoño continued: “So, it's a broader scope that brings in more allies and grows the population. And I would love to see it at a place where students aren't having to organize to make improvements.”

He also brought up the concern of ongoing global conflicts, which could create even more veterans. He poses the following question: How can Chapman “position itself to serve those future veterans?”

The VRC has a den in Canvas you can join by reaching out to Leader at veterans@chapman.edu. The VRC is also trying to compile a veteran alumni network to also provide resources to the military-connected Chapman alumni. There are hopes to create a board of directors to offer guidance to the VRC, as well as a possible future mentorship program where a newly accepted military-connected student is linked with a current one.

Leader also noted his goal of creating a larger presence on the VRC website.

To contact VRC Director Steve Leader, you can call the VRC office phone number (714) 516-5776 or email the VRC at veterans@chapman.edu. To set up an in-person or virtual appointment, click here.

If you or anyone you know would like to partner in any way to help the Chapman military population, Leader encourages members of the Chapman community to reach out to the VRC’s email. The VRC is also currently working to create the Veteran Valor Fund in which people can donate to the center. Eventually, the option to donate will appear on this site.

This article is the second of two articles in a short series about veteran students’ experiences and journey at Chapman. Read the first part here.

CLARIFICATION: On Dec. 5, the VA’s recommended ratio of 200 students to one School Certifying Official (SCO) was changed to 125 to one. The VA also recommended that this number be adjusted by the educational institution if the SCO has more responsibilities than just certifying GI Bill beneficiaries’ enrollments.