Maryville College sees an increase in transfer students and student veterans
Maryville College’s community has grown throughout the years and continues to do so now. The college has had an increase in both transfer students and in veterans coming to study at the College. While assumptions might be that transfers and veterans have a harder time settling into MC community, the college works to make their transitions as easy as possible.
Transfer students have to think about many potential issues when changing colleges. Katie King, a transfer student here at MC, had to consider these issues when she decided she would transfer colleges.
Before Maryville, King was studying at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Her decision to transfer was rooted in trying to save money. Belmont University is more expensive than Maryville College, so when she transferred to MC, she was relieved of some of the financial pressure she had been facing. She was happy to find that MC accepted all of her previous credit hours, which helped ease her from some of the stress and worries she was facing as a transfer student.
Despite cheering and participating in community choir, King did not immediately fit into the campus community. King started to participate in other groups and slowly began to feel as though she was a part of the MC community. Now King feels like she has found a home in Maryville College and is very happy with her decision to transfer.
“I’m more involved on campus and off and am experiencing life the way I feel MC students are designed to: passionately involved,” said King.
Maryville College encourages transfer students in many ways including scholarships for them. The MC Distinguished Scholarship is one awarded to transfers that have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher. No application is necessary for either of this scholarship. Having this scholarship and others have been an incentive for students to come to Maryville when they are looking for a new college to attend.
Maryville College also makes sure they are supportive of veterans looking for a college education. The college has signed a pledge to join the “Got your 6” campaign. This campaign supports student veterans by enhances resources available to veterans. The campaign is a nonprofit movement that believes veterans are leaders and problem solvers who have a unique look on situations and can strengthen our communities.
In addition to the “Got Your 6” campaign, Maryville takes part in the Department of Veterans Affairs “Principal of Excellence” program, a program in which schools agree to follow certain guidelines that are set to help veterans succeed.
Maryville also implements the US Department of Education “8 Keys to Veterans’ Success.” This is a series of steps that institutes can take that help with the transition of service to schooling.
With this increase in veterans on campus Maryville College has opened the Military Student Center located in room 204 in Bartlett Hall. This center wants to help veterans with the transition from the military to civilian life and life here at Maryville College.
Maryville is a known veteran-friendly school and welcomes all students with a connection to the military to come to Maryville.
Current student veterans talk highly of all Maryville College does for their students and more so what they do for their student veterans. Maryville College is accommodating to veterans who now have disabilities as a result of their service to our country.
Tom Bogart, Maryville College president, has commented on student veterans in the past.
“The life experience and professional skills developed in the military give our veterans context and insight that improve discussions in and out of class,” said Bogart.
Overall, both student veterans and transfer students play a large roll on Maryville’s campus, and the resources MC offers for both of these groups is helping the number of veterans and transfers grow.