Improvise, adapt, overcome: identifying military-acquired, non-cognitive attributes guiding student-veteran success in community college
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The purpose of this study is to identify non-cognitive attributes learned from enlisted military service that can guide student-veterans to success in higher education. Community colleges are showing poor completion rates for all the efforts toward student success and completion. Non-traditional students persist to completion and student success using a predominant set of non-cognitive attributes to overcome academic and cultural deficiencies typical of their demographic. As a niche subset of the non-traditional population, student-veterans are equipped with various non-cognitive attributes gained during their enlisted military service which they use to face unique challenges related to transitioning out of the military culture and into the culture of higher education. This study sought to capture and ascertain the lived experiences of successfully completed student-veterans that managed to effectively transition out of the military culture and into the culture of higher education utilizing a primarily grounded theory approach. The researcher performed a qualitative study to identify and understand the types of non-cognitive attributes student-veterans obtained during enlisted military service which were later used to earn academic success and program completion in a community college, or postsecondary education. Eighteen successfully completed student-veterans were gathered through snowball-sampling, which represented a diverse, intersected crosscutting of demographics. The researcher conducted interviews implementing a semi-structured, open-ended interview protocol. This flexible interview decorum supported the process of data gathering as veterans shared their personal experiences transitioning from the military culture into the culture of higher education, earning a completion credential and academic success. The guiding research questions of this study included: 1) What attributes learned through enlisted military experience translate to student success in higher education?; 2) What attributes learned through enlisted military experience correlate with the non-cognitive skills exhibited by non-traditional students that lead to success in higher education?; 3) How can student-veterans effectively apply their enlisted military experience as it relates to their student experience in higher education? This study identified eleven themes which surfaced from interviews with research participants: Commitment/Discipline, Communication/Self-Advocacy, Leadership/Team-building/Military Core values, Goal-setting and Planning, Adaptability, Responsibility/Accountability, Self-awareness, Confidence in self/ability, Time Management, Perspective of risk/consequence, and Caution. The three predominant non-cognitive attributes characteristic of the larger non-traditional student population were present among student-veterans, although only two were identified as among the predominant attributes in this study. The following themes emerged from interviews as opportunities student-veterans can best apply their non-cognitive attributes: Identify scenarios which military attributes are appropriate and applicable, Network/Seek guidance, Establish personal habits/routines, Plan/prepare for transition before separation, Adapt rather than impose, Exercise cultural awareness/understanding, and Identify parallel structures that exist in both military and higher education worlds. The emergent themes led to recommendations for community college and higher education leaders to develop cultural competencies on campus which validate the experiences and identities of student-veterans, build cultural acclimation bridges that allow student-veterans to wholly transfer their identity and attributes to their postsecondary experience, and manufacture an integration process that elevates student-veteran completion rates that may also positively impact other non-traditional student demographics for greater overall completion rates and student success.