William & Mary earns highest honor as a ‘Military Friendly’ institution

The 2026-2027 Guide to Military Friendly Schools will appear in the April issue of G.I. Jobs magazine. (Courtesy Photo)

William & Mary's commitment to military and veteran students has been reaffirmed with the university's recent designation as a Gold-Level Military Friendly School by MilitaryFriendly.com on March 25. It's the highest honor a university can receive.

In addition, W&M's Raymond A. Mason School of Business was named the top graduate school in the nation in the 2026-2027 Military Friendly Schools survey.

"As the Alma Mater of the Nation and the oldest public university, we consider it our mission to serve those who serve. By supporting our military and veteran students, we prepare them to lead with impact," said Kathleen Jabs, special assistant to the president for military & veteran affairs. "Honoring their service means investing in their future and the future they help shape for our country."

MilitaryFriendly.com evaluates schools based on policy and resource allocation for recruiting military and veteran students. Ratings are determined by a rules-based algorithm with data gleaned from both public sources and an organizational survey. The 2026-2027 Guide to Military Friendly Schools will appear in the April issue of G.I. Jobs magazine.

The Mason School of Business earned additional high marks in this year's survey, which will be released at a later date, emphasizing its commitment to creating meaningful pathways to help military-affiliated students transition from service to careers in business and leadership.

Supporting students

William & Mary has more than 1,600 military-connected students across campus, including Army and Naval ROTC cadets and midshipmen. That numbealso includes active-duty students, veterans, spouses, National Guard and Reserve members and students raised by military parents.

The Office of Student Veteran Engagement (OSVE) is a central hub for connecting military and veteran students across the university and building a broader sense of community. OSVE assists with job applications and employment, G.I. Bill benefits and course transferability. In partnership with Military & Veteran Affairs, the office coordinates initiatives across all schools and programs to expand veteran enrollment and seek support for other veteran programs.

The personal attention OSVE provides students pays off not just in the classroom, but across the state. Since OSVE opened in 2019, the six-year graduation rate shows undergraduate military & veteran students graduate at a 92% rate, higher than the percentage of non-military affiliated students (89%). After graduation, 61% of students have stayed in Virginia after graduation, since tracking began in 2016.

"Students find and are delighted by this being a place where they can live in the present and not a place where we all live in the past," said Charlie Foster, director of the Office for Student Veteran Engagement. "We all tell Marine Corps, Army or Navy stories, but talking to people is just as impactful because that's what transition is."

OSVE also works to ensure students feel a sense of belonging. Foster has hired counseling students in the School of Education as graduate assistants. A simple yet effective strategy, it has helped veterans normalize counseling as a resource.

The ease of access at the Sadler Center also helps connect military and veteran students with each other. Since fall 2025, OSVE has had more unique visits than ever before, with 768 visits that semester, a sixth consecutive semester increase.

"It shows the esteem William & Mary has for military and veteran students," he said. "They're given some of the most valuable centralized real estate on campus for these students to feel like they belong."

Other offices that support military students and veterans include:

• The Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic at W&M Law School, which advocates for veterans and provides experiential learning opportunities for law students to help veterans with their disability claims.
• The Center for Military Transition at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, which helps veterans transition to high-level civilian management positions and provides personal coaching and career counseling.
• The W&M School of Education's Clinical Mental Health & Military Veterans Counseling program, one of the only in the country, which trains counselors to work with veterans and families on a variety of issues.

In addition, William & Mary offers myriad academic opportunities for military and veteran students through such programs as:

• The Major General James Wright Program at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business
• The Army ROTC program through the Department of Military Science in the College of Arts & Sciences
• The NAVY ROTC program in the College of Arts & Sciences
• The Whole of Government Center of Excellence
• The Troops to Teachers Program at the W&M School of Education
• The International Maritime Officer's Course at W&M's Batten School & VIMS

Recently, U.S. News & World Report named a number of W&M's online programs among the best for veterans. The W&M School of Education ranked 30th for best online master's programs in education for veterans. The Raymond A. Mason School of Business ranked 26th for online master's in business programs for veterans and 66th among online MBA programs for veterans.

Supporting families

The university has also been recognized for supporting military spouses and families.

Last year, William & Mary hosted its first-ever Military Spouses Symposium, which included opportunities to navigate the complexity of career management, family responsibilities and personal aspects of life as a military spouse. The university will host the symposium for its second year on June 5, with nearly 200 spouses expected.

"We're supporting veterans in being successful by understanding that a lot of veterans and students who come to William & Mary, they're coming here with family," said Lindsay Blount Ed.D. '24, senior director of outreach & engagement for military & veteran affairs. "We're thinking holistically about their life outside of the classroom and how we can support that life as well."

Get involved

In addition to the spouses symposium, several upcoming events are planned.

• The university will host the Viceroy Symposium, which brings together Department of War senior leaders and scholars to strengthen cyber spectrum talent pipelines, April 14-16.
• A military appreciation baseball game will be held May 2.
• Student veterans will launch the Veterans Honor Society later this year.

As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary and beyond, William & Mary will continue to support military and veteran students across campus, Jabs said.

"The 250th celebration designation is a chance to highlight our military community," Jabs said. "You need a strong military for a strong democracy, and William & Mary has been launching global leaders since before our nation's founding. We're proud to be recognized as Military Friendly and see it as an opportunity to continue to grow in service."

William Oster, Communications Specialist

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