Changes: Understanding How Military-connected Students Acquire Social and Cultural Capital in Higher Education

LeNaya Hezel

Advisor: Blake Silver, PhD, Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Committee Members: Amaka Okechukwu, Elizangela Storelli, Jennifer Woolard Professor of Psychology Georgetown University

Online Location, Zoom: https://to.gmu.edu/Hezel
April 08, 2024, 09:30 AM to 11:30 AM

Abstract:

Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill went into effect in 2009, there has been tremendous growth in military-connected students enrolling in U.S. colleges and universities. In response to the influx of military-connected students, higher education stakeholders developed dedicated resources and services to remove barriers students often faced when transitioning from the military to civilian cultures. Government agencies and military and veteran marketing publications created incentives for having a military-connected student resource center or dedicated office to signal “military-friendly” campus cultures. Despite the good faith investments to support military-connected students in higher education, there is little evidence-based research to assess the impact and effectiveness of dedicated military-connected student services. This study introduces a critical analysis to understand how institutions with a diverse range of resources and services for military-connected students transition those students to civilian life and whether those resources and services are effective in facilitating this transition.

Using Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework of social and cultural capital, I investigate how military-connected students acquire social and cultural capital to transition into higher education. This qualitative case study includes four non-profit universities in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States: two campuses with military-connected student resource centers, one campus with a dedicated office to serve military-connected students, and one campus with a dedicated administrator with the primary function to certify GI Bill benefits. Using institutional ethnography, I observed campus structures and military-connected student interactions with different campus stakeholders, conducted semi-structured interviews with students, alumni, and campus administrators and faculty, and compared government and non-government organizations and campus documents.

Data analysis captured how government policies shaped administrators’ cultural capital in ways that informed their approaches to developing military-specific resources on campus that aligned with military-connected student experiences in the 21st Century. Except for all military-connected students in the study utilizing military-specific resources to finance their education, the usage of military-specific resources in other domains was inconsistent. Where and how military-connected students acquired information and services did not always involve military-specific resources based on where a student was in their transition process and higher education experience. Military-connected students actively engaged in VA Work Study positions or student veteran organizations often described centering their military-connected identity, resulting in workplace and extracurricular environments that resemble military cultures. Did these centralized military-connected services serve as mechanisms for military-connected students to transition to a civilian higher education environment? This study indicates that the answer depends on whom the services are designed to serve and whether military-connected students acquired transitioning resources in civilian spaces.

Join us on Zoom: https://to.gmu.edu/Hezel