Nearly half (46.7%) of all student veterans were enrolled in public community colleges in the 2019-20 academic year (the most recent year with this data). Veterans comprised 4.2% of all community college students — a higher percentage than those attending four-year colleges, but below for-profit colleges (8.1% of their students were veterans).
Figure 2 presents some basic demographics on veterans at public two-year colleges. Compared to non-veterans, veterans are more likely to be males, White, single parents and over the age of 30. Veterans are also more likely to be U.S. citizens, more likely to be born in the United States. One interesting point is that community college veterans are more likely to be foreign-born U.S. citizens, possibly reflecting the use of military service as a pathway to citizenship.
As shown in Figure 3, community college veterans are more likely to report having a disability (27.8% compared to 22.3% for non-veteran community college students). The largest differences between veterans and non-veterans are for those reporting difficulty hearing (6.0% versus 1.4%) and those reporting difficulty walking or climbing stairs (4.5% versus 2.1%).
As noted above, veterans were 4.2% of all community college students in 2019-20. In that same academic year, 1.3% of community college students took advantage of Post 9/11 GI Bill financial aid, and 0.3% used the Department of Defense (DoD) tuition assistance program to help with paying for their community college (See Figure 4). However, a higher percentage of students enrolled in other sectors took advantage of 9/11 benefits and DoD tuition assistance.
Over the course of the following three years, the percentage of community college students using Post 9/11 benefits declined. A similar pattern is seen in four-year colleges; however, for for-profit colleges, the percentage of students increased between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
