WKU News

For the 11^th consecutive year, Western Kentucky University has earned national recognition as a “Best for Vets” school by Military Times.

WKU is ranked 36^th in the nation and fifth in the Appalachia region in the 2023 Military Times Best for Vets: Colleges rankings. WKU has ranked as a “Best for Vets” school every year since 2013.

Military Times Best for Vets: Colleges is the largest and most comprehensive annual ranking of schools for military service members and veterans. This year, 325 schools made the list – up nearly 5% over last year.

“We’re excited to see that WKU continues to be recognized as a ‘Best for Vets’ school by Military Times,” said Kent Johnson, Director of Military Student Services. “This is a testament to the university’s purposeful efforts to not only recognize and honor the service of our military connected students, but also to meet them where they are and provide them with support to help them succeed. We truly enjoy serving those who serve.”

The 2023 rankings can be found on the new Best for Vets website at bestforvets.com.

Each year, the Best for Vets survey is sent to colleges and universities across the nation asking about their programs for veterans. The survey results are then analyzed, along with public data about colleges and universities obtained from the Department of Education and Department of Veterans Affairs, and turned into an official ranking.

WKU serves veterans through several programs, including Military Student Services, Veterans Upward Bound and Office of Veterans Affairs.

“We are also excited about the initiatives that we’ve worked on this past year as a part of establishing a Center of Excellence for Veteran Student Success at WKU,” Johnson said. “Those include hiring a coordinator for Veteran Student Success, establishing a Military Student Success Team, identifying faculty and staff who have a direct military connection, and hosting more events for our military and veteran affiliated students.”

This fall, Military Student Services worked with campus partners on several events to promote financial success, positive mental health and overall wellbeing while making connections with other students and veterans.

“Creating a campus culture of understanding and support for military and veteran connected students extends beyond just the efforts of our office,” Johnson said. “Each day we witness the purposeful efforts across WKU to recognize, honor, and support our military affiliated students. I’m so thankful to work at an institution with such a long history of supporting not only those who serve but also their families.”

Suzanne Thomas, WKU’s Coordinator for Veteran Student Success, said: “We continue to strive to meet the diverse needs of our students.”

WKU offers a military tuition rate of $250 per credit hour for undergraduate and graduate courses to all active duty, reserve and National Guard members. WKU Military Student Services offers the Textbooks For Troops program and provides other services, including support and guidance with tuition assistance requests for all branches of the military.

WKU also been designated as a "Military Friendly School" every year since 2009 by Victory Media.

For more about WKU’s programs for veterans and military personnel, visit https://www.wku.edu/veterans/

Contact: Kent Johnson, (270) 745-4163

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Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.