The UNM Veterans Resource Center hosted the Stand Down and Project Hand-Up 2010 to assist homeless veterans.
The project helped more than 400 homeless veterans with VA claims, counseling, food, health, showers, free haircuts and provided a warm breakfast and dinner, VRC Director Elise Wheeler said.
“We can offer a hand to those who have raised their right hand,” she said.
The VRC, located in Mesa Vista Hall, teaches student veterans how to get benefits and transition from active duty to student life. The transition is tough, she said.
“It’s like someone dropped all your stuff in the Grand Canyon, told you to go down to the bottom and get it, climb out the other side and figure out what you’re going to do,” Wheeler said.
Student Maria Veronica Yzeta, an eight-year U.S. Army veteran, said the military is structured and disciplined, so coming to a university environment can be challenging.
“We are taught not to think in the military. Here you decide what you want to do, when you want to do it,” Yzeta said.
According to the VRC, veterans have about a 26 percent college graduation rate, but the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill could change that.
The Post 9/11 Bill offers 100 percent tuition and fee coverage, a monthly living stipend and an option to transfer benefits to family members, as well as other benefits.
Most veterans who attend college qualify for the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. The bill went into effect in fall 2009 and is available for service men and women who served 90 or more days since Sept. 11, according to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.
According to the VRC, about 400 students on campus use the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, a 40 percent increase from last year when the bill was enacted.
Also, 200 Chapter 35 dependents, who are dependents of killed or severely disabled veterans, go to UNM.
Bart Phillips, a six-year Air Force veteran, plans to enroll and study computer engineering at UNM in the spring. He said veterans should use the services VRC offers to attend school.
“They should come here. They help you figure out the benefits you have and get you back into school,” he said. “There are people here to talk to that know what you have been through.”
