UNM's Yellow Ribbon Program leaves veterans in the lurch

Editor,

UNM’s Yellow Ribbon Program fails our veterans. As many of our military brothers and sisters return from tours of duty overseas, I can only hope that our appreciation for them is greater than what they are sacrificing to keep us safe and free to pursue an education.

While many of them will leave military service and begin a new stage in life, some will pursue higher education at UNM and will have help in paying for school through the G.I. Bill and vocational training programs.

However, UNM has and will let many of these veterans down because of a lack of 
foresight and proper planning and preparations for the future. As the G.I. Bill took effect Aug. 1, there were programs — in particular, the Yellow Ribbon Program — that should have been addressed properly by UNM.

The Yellow Ribbon Program helps cover tuition, fees and some expenses that are beyond the G.I. Bill, coverage that the student would have to pay for out of pocket. This program would be very helpful for students in the medical, business and pharmacy programs, and for graduate and professional students. Because these programs are more expensive, the student could incur an extra expense between $1,000 to $3,000, which should be covered by the Yellow Ribbon Program but cannot be because UNM did not address this program properly from the beginning.

UNM’s agreement for the Yellow Ribbon Program is to provide 10 recipients with a whopping $486 each. This program also excludes paying for student veterans attending the Anderson School of Management, the School of Law and the Pharmacy School. How can UNM shortchange these veterans by putting together a meager program? There are currently more than 600 veterans attending UNM, and many are graduate students.
So how does UNM fare among the other institutions of higher education? According to the Veterans Administration’s reports of the Yellow Ribbon Program by state, most provide five to 15 times more money than UNM, for an unlimited number of students for any field of study. Only one school fares worse than UNM, and that is New Mexico State University, which has no Yellow Ribbon Program.

President David Schmidly’s response is that financial and economic problems are at hand and that current planning is to lobby for more funding from the Legislature. I only say that UNM had an opportunity to put together a truly solid Yellow Ribbon Program since June of last year, and not to start this in the latter part of 2009.

UNM’s strategic plan talks about instilling students with strength, relevance, research and leadership — some of the characteristics that are clearly lacking from Schmidly’s office, which allowed the Yellow Ribbon Program to become a model for what not to do.

Eric Ross
UNM student