A Decade of Serving Veterans

Recently the University commemorated a decade of participation in the Post-9/11 GI Bill™’s Yellow Ribbon Program, a federal program established in 2008 to cover tuition and fees for post-9/11 veterans.

Drexel was one of the first universities in the area to offer the program, and has committed $2 million in tuition coverage per year to more than 2,000 veterans and their dependents since it began in 2009.

“It was a big, bold move for our institution to do this,” says Assistant Vice President of Student Life Rebecca Weidensaul, whose father served in the Army during World War II. “Not only was Drexel thinking about how to financially manage this, but it was also simultaneously thinking about how to set up systems that support students as well.”

Drexel is one of the few universities in the country to have an uncapped number of spots available to student veterans and their dependents to study at any of its schools through any of its programs, both on campus and online, with complete tuition coverage.

“I think we as a campus are doing everything we can to make this the best experience for our veterans and the students who are using those benefits,” says Bryant Morris, assistant director of Drexel Central, who has been involved with the Yellow Ribbon Program since he started at Drexel in 2010.