Dartblog

Dartmouth, in particular Jim Wright, has recently begun trumpeting its commitment to veterans. All of the hoopla began towards the end of my freshman year when Wright’s initiative with the American Council on Education to broaden access to post-military education began receiving media attention. Soon thereafter we learned that Wright had met a young Marine veteran recovering from injuries and had encouraged him to apply to Dartmouth. The young marine did, transferring here in fall of 2007.

The next year saw the creation of Dartmouth Undergraduate Veterans Association, a group dedicated to veterans issues on campus and made up of veterans from several countries. The following year was marked by heavy publicity for the group and a raised awareness around campus about veterans. The Public Affairs arm of the College worked hard at promoting this positive new addition to Dartmouth’s community. Needless to say, I was happy with this turn of events, especially since up to this point I had had quite a different experience.

I applied to Dartmouth while still in language training at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, CA, after being encouraged to do so by a good friend, a 30-year-old Columbia grad. Despite highlighting my Army experience on my application, I did not hear anything from the College prior to my acceptance. Even afterwards, I didn’t get anything more than the usual mailings. At the time I was preparing to go back to reserve duty once my training was complete so that I could attend Dartmouth, but (this was the spring of 2006) I expected to be deployed to Iraq at some point during my Dartmouth career.

So, I tried to find out what Dartmouth’s policy on my enrollment would be if I were deployed midway through a term. I was told that the College would apply the normal tuition refund policy to my situation. From the Financial Services website: Refunds for students who withdraw after tuition has been paid, but prior to registration and the first day of classes, will be 100% of tuition. After the beginning of classes, refunds will be calculated as follows: a refund of 90 % for withdrawal during the first week of the term, a refund of 75% for withdrawal during the second and third weeks of the term, a refund of 50% for withdrawal during the fourth week of the term, and a refund of 25% for withdrawal during the fifth week of the term. No refund will be made after the fifth week of the term.

The long and the short of it is that if I were ordered to Iraq after the fifth week of a term, I would lose all my contribution towards tuition, and receive no academic credits. Mind you, this would be if I were deployed to fight for my country.

I hope that President Kim will work to make Dartmouth a little more hospitable to its men and women in uniform.

More to come. Stay tuned!