1. Student Development Theory of
Veteran College Students
By: Kelly DeSisto, Samantha Bates
and Hannah Kelliher

2. Definition of Veteran
• “A Veteran is someone who, at one point in
his/her life, wrote a blank check payable to
the ‘United States of America,’ for an amount
of ‘up to and including my life.”
• “A person who has served in the armed forces
or (2) an old soldier who has seen long
service.”

3. Sarah
• 27 year old female from Lynn, MA
• Married mother of a toddler
• Joined military at age 20
• Active for 4 years and inactive for 4
• Deployed to Iraq and served as a Chaplin’s
Assistant
• Individual Ready Reserve

4. Jeremiah
• 25 divorced male from Grand Rapids Michigan
• Enlisted in USMC for 7.5 years.
– Deployed 3 times:
• Iraq one year Lead security gunne
• Afghanistan: 8 months-Motor transportation chief
• NewTok Alaska: 3 months-relocated village
• Transition to Salem State has been good
– Connected with Veterans Learning Community
– Keeps days filled
– Desire to be seen as a traditional student.

5. Patrick
• 27 year old from Nahant, MA
• Joined Marine Corps - Enlisted for 8 years
• Aviation Supply Specialist – Became Sergeant
• Deployed twice: Iraq and Afghanistan
– Sense of “brotherhood”
• Awarded Certificates of Commendation and Navy
Marine Corps Achievement Medal
• Transition into Salem State has been “okay”
– Wants to be held to a higher standard
– Lack of connection to campus life
– View on Veteran Affairs and Military Support Group

6. Our Theory
In order for student affairs
practitioners to adequately serve
their institutions’ Veteran
communities, the following four
areas should be considered:
• Structure / Sense of Purpose
• Giving Back
• Immersion into the Campus
Community
• Desire to be seen as a
Traditional Student in Classes

7. Structure and Sense of Purpose
• Civilian vs. Military
– Civilian life provides less structure than military
– Veterans have a hard time adjusting themselves to
the lack structures.
• How Student Affairs Professionals can help
– Recommend involvement in campus activities

8. Giving Back
• Major motivator for entering military
– Two of our veterans were on government support
growing up
• Entering for the “right reason”
– Financial benefits versus real desire to serve
others

9. Immersion into the Campus
Community
• Age differences:
– Veterans versus their peers
• Veterans are more developed
– Tend to be older and therefore more mature
• Greater cognitive development
• Experiences significantly differ

10. Desire to be seen as a Traditional
Student in Classes
• Veteran classes separated from other
traditional students
• Special treatment
– Feel they are held to lower standards than
traditional students
• Desire small recognition for their service
– Special events/organizations
– Benefits (i.e. free parking sticker)

11. Contributing Theories
• Chickering
– Developing Purpose Vector
• Perry
– Dualism
• Kegan
– Orders 3 and 4
• Kohlberg
– Stages 3 and 4

12. Chickering’s Theory
• Psychosocial development in college students’
formation of identity
• Adjustment from rigid structure to more
flexibility
• “Attempting to find a life direction that makes
sense for them” (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton
& Ren, 2010, p. 69)
• Role in military versus campus life

13. Perry’s Theory
• Theory of Intellectual and Ethical
Development.
• “Perry’s scheme begins with begins with
simplistic forms in which the individual
interprets the world in ‘unqualified polar
terms of right-wrong, good-bad’” (Evans, et
al., 2010, p. 85)
• Follow directions
– Looks to professor to answer all questions and
thinks they know all of answers

14. Kegan’s Theory
• Theory of Evolution of Consciousness.
• “’evolution of consciousness, the personal
unfolding of ways of organizing experience
that are not simply replaced as we grow but
subsumed into more complex systems of
mind”(Evans, et al., 2010, p. 177).
• Six levels of consciousness
– Veterans fall in between order 3 (socialized mind)
and order 4 (self authoring mind)

15. Kohlberg’s Theory
• Interpersonally Normative Morality
– “right is defined as meeting the expectations of
those whom one is close and carrying out
appropriate, acceptable social roles” (Evans et. Al,
2010, p. 104)
– Veterans were inspired by others to enlist
• Social System Morality
– Veterans versus rules and regulations

16. Advice from our Veterans
• If they are just returning home they
should seek help and be open to new
experiences
• Make sure you are ready for school – be
mentally prepared for the drastic change
in structure and environment
• Know the degree that you are seeking
• Take advantage of all the programs and
benefits that you receive
• Connect with older veteran students

17. Patrick, Jeremiah and Sarah’s
Suggestions for Salem State University
• Option for living on campus
• Remove an IDS class and replace with a class that
would count towards graduation
• Organizations on campus should be more friendly
towards veterans.
• Academic affairs should uphold veterans to same
standards as everyone else
• More advertising and support from military
support group on campus.

18. Limitations of our research
• Quantity of research participants
– Three in-person interviews
– One female
– One from an underrepresented ethnicity
• Only assessed veteran experience at Salem
State University
• Research conductors’ lack of
experience/knowledge of Military

19. Questions/Comments

20. Special Thanks
To Jeremiah, Patrick, and Sarah for all of
their help and service!

21. References
• Evans, J. N., Forney, S. D., Guido, M. F., Patton,
D. L., & Renn, A. K. (2010). Student
development in college: Theory, research, and
practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Powers, R., (n.d.). Do you qualify for veteran’s
benefits. Retrieved from
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/benefits/a/ve
tbenefits.htm